The chlorite-iodide reaction is unusual because it is substrate-inhibited and autocatalytic. Because analytically pure ClO2- ion is not easily prepared, it was generated in situ from the rapid reaction between ClO2 and I-. The resulting overall reaction is multiphasic, consisting of four separable parts. Sequentially, beginning with mixing, these parts are the (a) chlorine dioxide-iodide, (b) chlorine(III)-iodide, (c) chlorine(III)-iodine, and (d) hypoiodous and iodous acid disproportionation reactions. The overall reaction has been studied experimentally and by computer simulation by breaking it down into a set of kinetically active subsystems and three rapidly established equilibria : protonations of chlorite and HOI and formation of I-3(-). The subsystems whose kinetics and stoichiometries were experimentally measured, remeasured, or which were previously experimentally measured include oxidation of iodine(-1,0,+1,+3) by chlorine(0,+1,+3), oxidation of I- by HIO2, and disproportionation of HOI and HIO2. The final mechanism and rate constants of the overall reaction and of its subsystems were determined by sensitivity analysis and parameter fitting of differential equation systems. Rate constants determined for simpler reactions were fixed in the more complex systems. A 1S-step model with the three above-mentioned rapid equilibria fits the overall reaction and all of its subsystems over the range [I-](0) < 10(-3) M, [ClO2-](0) < 10(-3) M, [I-](0)[ClO2-](0) = 3-5, pH = 1-3.5, and 25 degrees C. The derived model with all experimentally determined rate and equilibrium constants fits both the overall reaction and all of its subsystems within 1% relative accuracy.