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The Structure and Diversity of Mediation in International Relations

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Mediation in International Relations

Abstract

In his keynote address to the Annual Conference of the International Association of Conflict Management in 1990, Morton Deutsch, truly one of the founding fathers of conflict studies, highlighted five major themes which have dominated the discipline in the last twenty-five years or so.1 The study of mediation is one of the five themes. Given the widespread use of mediation in virtually every area of human interaction, and its increasing importance in international relations, it is not surprising that mediation should figure so prominently in our research. What might, perhaps, seem as somewhat surprising is that after so many years, and a plethora of studies, there is still considerable disagreement amongst scholars, and a state of confusion amongst practitioners, as to what constitutes an effective mediation and how to evaluate it. Hopefully what follows will go some way toward rectifying this situation.

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Notes

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  55. This framework owes much to Druckman’s analysis of negotiation. For a detailed analysis, see D. Druckman (ed.) Negotiations: Social-Psychological Perspectives (London: Sage Publications, 1977)

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  60. The discussion of procedural and outcome fairness owes much to J.W. Thibaut and L. Walker, Procedural Justice; A Psychological Analysis (New York: John Wiley, 1975) and B.H. Sheppard, ‘Third Party Conflict Intervention’ op. cit.

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Authors
  1. Jacob Bercovitch
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Canterbury, New Zealand

    Jacob Bercovitch (Senior Lecturer in International Relations) (Senior Lecturer in International Relations)

  2. Tufts University, USA

    Jeffrey Z. Rubin (Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of International Diplomacy, Associate Director) (Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of International Diplomacy, Associate Director)

  3. Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA

    Jeffrey Z. Rubin (Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of International Diplomacy, Associate Director) (Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of International Diplomacy, Associate Director)

  4. Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, USA

    Jeffrey Z. Rubin (Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of International Diplomacy, Associate Director) (Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of International Diplomacy, Associate Director)

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© 1992 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Bercovitch, J. (1992). The Structure and Diversity of Mediation in International Relations. In: Bercovitch, J., Rubin, J.Z. (eds) Mediation in International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230375864_1

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