Learning Lessons from Waco: When the Parties Bring Their Gods to the Negotiation Table (Religion and Politics)
Docherty (conflict studies, Eastern Mennonite Univ.) presents a  conceptual model of worldview conflict, using the example of  Waco to extract principles for negotiating with communities  motivated by unconventional beliefs. Having researched  transcripts of the negotiation tapes, official reports of events  surrounding the negotiation, and interviews, she argues that  parties with fundamentally different worldviews must first deal  with reality, or "worldnaming," before they can begin to  confront the issues. Docherty suggests that because they used  different "naming, framing, and blaming" language, the two sides  in the Waco negotiation were destined to fail. While the Branch  Davidians' reality was based on values and spirituality, that of  the FBI was scientific and goal-centered, and it dismissed the  Davidians' attempts to communicate as "Bible babble." Docherty  concludes with 14 lessons for future crisis negotiators dealing  with such groups, not the least of which is that they must know  their own worldview and work to understand that of the parties  with whom they are negotiating. This book is doctoral candidate  Docherty's thesis, as reflected in the hundreds of citations,  footnotes, and discussions of other theoretical approaches.  While the thesis is important and timely, the language is  sometimes so academic that it may not be every negotiator's next  read. For academic libraries. Julie Denny, Resolutions, Inc.,  Armenia, NYCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.