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EU Mediation Effectiveness: An Analytical Framework

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The European Union as International Mediator

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics ((PSEUP))

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Abstract

Mediation and its effectiveness are highly complex phenomena that do not lend themselves to a single, linear explanation. This chapter develops the analytical framework of the book and paves the way for the empirical analysis in the case study chapters. The book adopts a two-dimensional conceptualisation of EU mediation effectiveness that includes both a conflict-specific and an EU-specific perspective on effectiveness. The conflict-specific perspective on EU mediation effectiveness focusses on the concrete results achieved, and assesses whether EU mediation leads to the settlement of the conflict. The EU-specific perspective on mediation effectiveness captures the degree to which the EU has achieved its objectives as a mediator in a certain mediation effort. Combining insights and propositions from both mediation research and EU foreign policy studies, the chapter discusses six conditioning factors of EU mediation effectiveness and theorises their causal impact: leverage, mediation strategy, coherence, mediator coordination, the conflict parties’ willingness to compromise, and the conflict parties’ internal cohesiveness. Finally, the chapter concludes by delimiting the conceptual boundaries of the analytical framework and explaining the structure of the ensuing case study chapters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Bonn, Germany

    Julian Bergmann

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Bergmann, J. (2020). EU Mediation Effectiveness: An Analytical Framework. In: The European Union as International Mediator. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25564-0_2

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