Mediation

Abstract

Mediation has a long and generally honourable record in the history of diplomacy. It is by definition multilateral and can occur, as in the momentous talks on the Middle East at Camp David in September 1978, at the summit. To this extent, it raises questions identical to those discussed in Chapters 11 and 12. But mediation requires separate treatment because it raises separate questions and is so important. It is particularly necessary in long, bitter disputes in which the parties are unable to compromise without seriously jeopardizing the domestic positions of their leaders. It is usually needed the more when the parties retain the most profound distrust of each other’s intentions, where cultural differences present an additional barrier to communication, and where at least one of the parties refuses to recognize the other.