Cultivating Mediation in Georgia: Old Traditions and Modern Developments

Abstract

The Republic of Georgia’s mix of rapid post-Soviet reform, long-standing ethnic tensions, and economic challenges made it a setting for simmering hostilities. Changes in standard operating procedures, business norms, educational guidelines, and administrative and legal practices added to the uncertainty produced by uncertain economic conditions, ethnopolitical conflict in border regions, and large numbers of internally displaced persons. Under such circumstances, conflicts were inevitable, yet the post-Soviet vacuum in social capacity for resolving conflicts had been slow to fill with resurrected Georgian customary practices or institutional mechanisms perceived as legitimate and just. Magradze and d’Estrée discuss their university partnership to enhance an MA program in Conflict Management, and develop a university-based mediation clinic, providing training for hundreds of students and citizens and mediation services for several high-profile disputes. In the course of these activities, much has been learned about devising a conflict management model that would work in a Eurasian context, as well as revising models of training and clinic administration for cultural appropriateness. Integration with existing judicial structures and practices represented larger challenges that required flexibility and innovation. This chapter reviews the challenges faced and insights gained during clinic development, and lessons learned for establishment of mediation in a hybrid legal, social, and cultural context.