ABSTRACT
Philip Gulliver's unique contribution to the literature on dispute settlement has been to provide a model of negotiations with a wide range of applications. In response to local concerns, the Irish government and Ogra Chorcai established the Ballinaclasha Youth Development Centre in 1985. Operating out of a community building in the south end of the parish, the 'centre' was set up for unemployed young people, and in particular, early school-leavers. In this chapter, the author examines the antagonistic relationship between the staff of a youth-development centre in the city of Cork, Ireland, and the young people who frequented it. The inability of the staff and the users to reach a suitable compromise through negotiations may seem puzzling, given the obvious advantages to both parties of an absence (or reduction) of conflict.
