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Article
Publication date: 18 September 2023

Michael J. Butler

Conventional wisdom tells us that mediation without ripeness is a fool’s errand (Zartman and Touval, 1985). What, then, is Türkiye’s motivation for mediating the war in Ukraine in…

Abstract

Purpose

Conventional wisdom tells us that mediation without ripeness is a fool’s errand (Zartman and Touval, 1985). What, then, is Türkiye’s motivation for mediating the war in Ukraine in lieu of ripeness – and what can its behavior as a mediator tell us about that motivation? In pursuit of this question, this paper inductively analyzes Turkish mediation in the Ukraine war to unpack the relationship between a contextual (ripeness) and actor-level (motivation) variable. Of particular interest is the decision-making and behavior of third parties (like Türkiye in Ukraine) who elect to mediate highly complex conflicts in which ripeness is indiscernible. The purpose of this research is not to propose or test a causal relationship between obscured ripeness and mediation, but rather to examine mediation behavior in situations where ripeness is obscured.

Design/methodology/approach

The impact of weaponized information on ripeness and third-party mediation is evaluated through an original, systematic and inductive case study analysis of Turkish mediation in the Russia–Ukraine war. As an intense theater of operations for information warfare for well over a decade, the war in Ukraine serves as an especially apt choice for an analysis of “obscured ripeness.” Likewise, Türkiye’s anomalous position as the only substantive source of mediation in the conflict lends significance to an empirical examination of its motivation and behavior as a mediator.

Findings

This research reveals that the pervasive use of weaponized information in the Russia–Ukraine war has distorted and disordered the information environment, thereby obscuring the ability of third parties to determine if the conflict is or could be ripe for mediation. However, the condition of obscured ripeness that prevails in the conflict has not proven a deterrent for mediation by Türkiye, which, as the only mediator in the conflict, has used a transactional approach to mediation motivated by self-regarding interests and animated by a manipulative mediation strategy. In sum, this inductive analysis of Turkish mediation in Ukraine reveals that the use of weaponized information in a conflict indirectly selects on transactional mediation (and mediators). The significance of this finding is magnified by the widespread use of weaponized information in contemporary conflicts as well as the declining frequency of third-party mediation.

Originality/value

There have been few, if any, systematic assessments in Turkish mediation of the Russia–Ukraine war, and none specifically concerned with the effects of weaponized information. Additionally, the paper proposes a typology of mediator motivation that is used to structure that assessment, while also introducing a new concept (“obscured ripeness”) and linking that concept both to the existing literature on ripeness and to the use of weaponized information in contemporary armed conflicts. As such, this manuscript represents an important contribution both to the empirical and theoretical landscape with respect to the study of mediation and international conflict management.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 35 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 July 2007

Penny Brooker

The paper seeks to examine the debate on mediator style and provide empirical evidence on mediator orientation, which has implications for party choice and the development of…

6217

Abstract

Purpose

The paper seeks to examine the debate on mediator style and provide empirical evidence on mediator orientation, which has implications for party choice and the development of professional standards for construction mediators in the UK.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper analyses the theoretical arguments and distinctions in mediator style and assesses the available evidence relating to the utilisation of evaluative or facilitative mediator approaches in the UK and US construction industry. The paper reports on data from qualitative interviews with construction lawyers experienced in using mediation in the UK to assess the level of evaluative conduct experienced.

Findings

The findings suggest that interviewees had experienced a mix of evaluative and facilitative interventions by mediators. The data support the contention that construction mediation in the UK mirrors the experience of the USA and is becoming “lawyer‐driven” and adversarial, with mediators utilising evaluative techniques which some members of the legal profession prefer.

Research limitations/implications

The qualitative data are based on a small sample of mediation users in the UK construction industry. However, interviewees were selected from respondents to a randomly conducted large‐scale postal survey of commercial and construction lawyers. All interviewees were repeat users of the process and all but one had received training in mediation or are practising lawyer‐mediators.

Practical implications

The data provide evidence of different mediator techniques currently utilised in the UK construction industry and the practices of lawyers in the mediation process. The findings have implications for party choice and should inform the development of professional standards in construction mediation practice.

Originality/value

The paper provides original data on the practices of mediators and lawyers in construction mediation.

Details

Structural Survey, vol. 25 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-080X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 October 2016

Aran Martin

Success and failure in mediation are widely understood to determine whether a state will receive positive or negative reputation outcomes from undertaking a mediation role in an…

Abstract

Purpose

Success and failure in mediation are widely understood to determine whether a state will receive positive or negative reputation outcomes from undertaking a mediation role in an international conflict. Research from mediation in domestic settings contradicts this view, finding that peer mediators in school and community settings received positive mediator outcomes from undertaking their role, even when they failed to facilitate an agreement between disputants. This paper aims to test this assumption and argues that mediation success and failure are only weakly correlated with observable reputation outcomes for mediating states and proposes an alternative explanatory framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The hypothesis was inductively generated through a comparative analysis of single-state mediation attempts selected from the Uppsala Conflict Database Project MILC data set. The cases selected were South Africa’s mediation attempts in Côte d’Ivoire from 2004 to 2005 and Comoros from 2003 to 2004, and Mexico’s mediation attempts in Colombia (National Liberation Army) in 2004 and Guatemala (Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity) between 1994 and 1996. To contextualise the findings and develop the explanatory framework, South African mediation attempts in Burundi and the DRC are discussed in the closing sections of the paper.

Findings

This paper finds that mediation success and failure are only weakly correlated with mediator outcomes. Mediator outcomes are explained by the activity level of the mediating state in providing mediation services; the positive intention of the mediator to assist in resolving the conflict; the scale of the conflict mediated; the severity of spill over effects from the conflict in question; the regional importance of the conflict; the proximity of the government which a mediating state looks to develop relations with to the conflict; the importance of the mediation attempt within the peace process; the level of contestation of the mediation attempt, meaning the extent to which mediation attempts are themselves sites of regional or global international power politics; and the success or failure of the mediation attempt.

Originality/value

An explanatory framework for state mediator outcomes in which the outcome of a mediation attempt for the third-party state is not determined solely, or even primarily, by mediation success or failure bridges mediation research applying to international and domestic issue areas and provides additional information for policy makers regarding the costs and benefits of committing their state to processes of mediation in conflicts with low probabilities of resolution. This is particularly important for state policy makers, given that mediation is successful on average in only one out of every three attempts.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2016

Katherine Chalkey and Martin Green

This paper aims to explore the appropriate role and approach of mediators and investigate whether mediator neutrality and party autonomy should prevail over mediators’ obligations…

1032

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the appropriate role and approach of mediators and investigate whether mediator neutrality and party autonomy should prevail over mediators’ obligations to remain neutral where non-intervention would result in unfair settlements.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper arises from polarising and paradoxical opinions of the legitimacy of mediator intervention. This paper relies upon theories proposed in peer-reviewed journals, together with secondary data.

Findings

Mediator neutrality has no consistent or comprehensible meaning and is not capable of coherent application. Requirements for mediator neutrality encourage covert influencing tactics by mediators which itself threatens party autonomy. Mediator intervention ensures ethical and moral implementation of justice, removal of epistemological implications of subjective fairness and compensation for lack of pure procedural justice in the mediation process. Party autonomy requires mediators to intervene ensuring parties adequately informed of the law and equal balance of power.

Research limitations/implications

Peer-reviewed journals and secondary data give meaningful insight into perceptions, opinions and beliefs concerning mediator neutrality, party autonomy and fair outcomes. These data comprised unstructured-interviews and questionnaires containing “open-ended” questions.

Practical implications

Mediator neutrality and party autonomy are less important than fair settlements.

Social implications

Mediator neutrality should be given a contextual meaning; mediation should be more transparent affording the parties opportunity to select a particular type of mediator; transformative and narrative approaches to mediation should be further developed.

Originality/value

This paper exposes the myth of mediator neutrality – a popular concept demanded by and anticipated by the parties but which is practically impossible to deliver. It also shows the need for mediator intervention to ensure a fair outcome.

Details

International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-1450

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2005

Jess K. Alberts, Brian L. Heisterkamp and Robert M. McPhee

This study examines the impact of mediator style, mediation outcome, and mediator background variables on community mediation participant satisfaction and fairness perceptions…

Abstract

This study examines the impact of mediator style, mediation outcome, and mediator background variables on community mediation participant satisfaction and fairness perceptions along several dimensions. Our data were collected from a community mediation program located in a justice court in the Southwestern United States. During a twelve‐month period, 40 mediation sessions, each involving a single mediator, were videotaped. The 108 mediation participants completed surveys assessing their perceptions of and satisfaction with their specific mediation experiences. The findings indicate important impacts of mediator facilitativeness on all perceptions and of conflict resolution success on satisfaction. Mediator experience impacted perceptions of the mediator; mediator gender and law background had no impacts.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 September 2021

Elaina Behounek and Michelle Hughes Miller

The purpose of this study is to understand mediation in divorce cases where intimate partner violence (IPV) is a concern. These cases may involve managing power imbalances…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand mediation in divorce cases where intimate partner violence (IPV) is a concern. These cases may involve managing power imbalances, coercive control or risk for continued violence.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the authors use feminist and sociological theoretical approaches and grounded theory to analyze triangulated ethnographic data to explore how mediators construct and manage the issue of IPV in mediation.

Findings

The results indicate that mediators often share a common discourse about IPV that asserts that mediators are professionals with the skills to both identify IPV and to appropriately conduct mediations where IPV is present. However, to achieve successful mediations mediators sometimes choose to discount the seriousness of IPV in assessments. They also use a set of fluid strategies to handle potential power imbalances that allow them to represent themselves as unbiased, even while those strategies risk the equity of the mediation.

Practical implications

The authors share several strategies that could enhance the social justice of the process for all parties, including uniformity in assessing whether IPV is a concern and oversight of mediators’ practices and training.

Social implications

The results indicate mediators often share a common discourse about IPV that asserts mediators are professionals with the skills to identify IPV and to appropriately conduct mediations where IPV is present. To reach settlement mediators use a set of fluid mediation and accommodation strategies to handle potential power imbalances due to IPV that allow them to represent themselves as impartial, even while those strategies may risk equity in the mediation.

Originality/value

The unique data provide a behind-the-scenes look at mediation generated from participant observation of mediation training and actual mediations, along with interviews with 30 practicing mediators.

Details

Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-6599

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1996

William Ross and Jessica LaCroix

The present paper reviews the research literature on trust in bargaining and mediation. Several models of trust within the bargaining process are also described. It is concluded…

4425

Abstract

The present paper reviews the research literature on trust in bargaining and mediation. Several models of trust within the bargaining process are also described. It is concluded that trust means different things, depending upon the relationship under investigation. Trust among negotiators can refer to a personality trail (how trusting a negotiator is of others) or to a temporary state. Within the state perspective, trust often refers to one of three orientations: (1) cooperative motivational orientation (MO), (2) patterns of predictable behavior, (3) a problem‐solving orientation. Trust between a negotiator and constituents usually refers to a cooperative MO (i.e., shared loyalty) between these two groups. The addition of a mediator can impact both the opposing negotiators' relationship and each negotiator‐constituent relationship; the mediator also has direct and indirect relationships with the parties and their constituents. Future directions for research on trust are identified.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 7 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Article
Publication date: 15 December 2017

Ian M. Borton and Gregory Dennis Paul

This study aims to better understand the socialization process individuals undergo when training to become a conflict mediator.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to better understand the socialization process individuals undergo when training to become a conflict mediator.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents an analysis of Michigan’s state-wide training guidelines, training documents and eight semi-structured narrative interviews from participants of two 40-hour mediation trainings.

Findings

Results are presented with regard to pre-training and post-training beliefs about mediation alongside data gathered regarding mediator tactics, beliefs and potential for transformation. In sum, newly trained mediators often undergo a phase of “unlearning” before returning to a settlement-focused facilitative model of mediation.

Practical implications

The paper presents implications for facilitative mediator training, training materials and role-play activities.

Originality/value

Third-party interventions can impact conflicts both positively and negatively. Currently, many states and municipal districts have engaged individuals through mediation training to act as a positive force for conflict resolution. Thus far, very little is understood about the development of individuals through mediation training.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 February 2014

Allard Duursma

A rapidly expanding body of literature on international mediation, as well as the central role international mediation plays in modern-day conflict resolution, make it necessary…

3977

Abstract

Purpose

A rapidly expanding body of literature on international mediation, as well as the central role international mediation plays in modern-day conflict resolution, make it necessary to review and analyze this vastly evolving field of study. This study seeks to review the most significant trends and debates in the literature on international mediation, with an emphasis on the literature of the past six years.

Design/methodology/approach

Reflecting Wall et al.'s staged conceptualization of the mediation process; this review essay is divided in three sections that cover the antecedents of mediation, possible mediation approaches, and the outcomes these approaches yield – making it possible to review and analyze the diverse sets of theories within the field of mediation, as well the various methodological approaches employed to test these theories.

Findings

Much research to date has focused on how international mediation in armed conflicts affects the likelihood of reaching a negotiated agreement, while other possible outcomes of mediation have been understudied. Accordingly, research needs to be done on the effects of mediation attempts that did not lead to a peace agreement, as well as the accumulative effect of peace agreements. Furthermore, the relation between negative peace and mediation has been studied extensively, but how mediation affects the degree of positive peace has received scant scholarly attention. Finally, the interlinkages between the different phases of the mediation process need to be examined more extensively.

Originality/value

This review identifies the state of the art knowledge concerning the international mediation process, which allows peacemakers to make informed decisions in order to prevent and resolve armed conflict in the twenty-first century.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 25 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1992

Carol Baker and William H. Ross

The present study attempted to replicate the findings of Kolb's research identifying two groups of mediators, which she labeled “Dealmakers” and “Orchestrators.” Seventy‐seven…

Abstract

The present study attempted to replicate the findings of Kolb's research identifying two groups of mediators, which she labeled “Dealmakers” and “Orchestrators.” Seventy‐seven mediators were presented with a written dispute and asked to react the likelihood that they would use each of nine different mediation techniques. The techniques corresponded to Sheppard's taxonomy of Process Control, Content Control, and Motivational Control techniques. They also rated the perceived effectiveness of each of these three types of control with the dispute. Based upon their responses, the mediators were separated into groups using average‐link cluster analysis. The results suggested four clusters: Cluster 1 members corresponded to Kolb's “Dealmakers,” relying upon Process, Content, and Motivational Control techniques. Cluster 2 members did not correspond to either of Kolb's classifications, choosing to use Content and Motivational Control strategies. Cluster 3 members were similar to Kolb's “Orchestrators;” members of this cluster relied upon Process and Content Control techniques only. Cluster 4 members were reluctant to use any of the control strategies. These findings suggest a partial replication and extension of Kolb's initial work. Implications for future research are discussed.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 3 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

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