The Dialogic Mediation: The Pragmatic Approach

Abstract

The era of private peacemakers is evident; peace diplomacy has necessarily changed or, more precisely, change is under way. Dialogic mediation appears then to be a particularly transformative alternative to the rationalistic ideals of peace mediation. It is far away from a uniform and coherent approach and it could receive different emphasis by different actors, but overall it represents a fresh move towards the adoption of what can termed post-management practice and it offers practical examples of how it is possible to support peace processes without trusting the linear causalities of peace intervention. It is still very much a marginal and challenging approach, even if some elements are more widely shared. Still, the experiences of private actors indicate that there is room for rather radical reform within peace diplomacy if new actors do not openly contest the position of old one and that they are capable of working with frameworks of conventional rules.