ABSTRACT
In this chapter we explore the resonance between the work of policy analysis and the work of public policy mediation. Mediators’ practice turns out not only to be a form of policy analysis but to have implications for advancing the broader practice of policy analysts as well. We examine public policy mediation as a form of practice that has developed in the United States over the past twenty years-a practice that “deform[s], constrain[s] . . . and enable[s]” policy-making in ways that can be practically instructive for all those interested in “exploring the communicative dimensions of collective debating and deciding on matters of collective concern,” including, of course, debates about the substantive content of policy issues.1
