conflict can suggest research hypotheses at least as appealing as those we
might offer. Our interest at this point is simply to develop a framework
that permits such relationships to be conceived and analyzed.

We have presented a general framework that describes how conflict is
managed in the public policy process. The approach we have employed
recognizes the environment in which political decisions are made,
identifies a variety of important factors that condition the type of decision
mode used, and suggests some of the relationships that may exist
between the decision mode and decision method that is ultimately
selected. Above all, the model takes into account the critical influence of
the policy process and the way in which conflict is treated at each of its
various stages.

We believe that this framework can be usefully employed as a
heuristic tool by conflict management researchers and practitioners both
to understand better and to predict decision modes and methods that are
likely to be used by public policy decision makers to address conflict.

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