Professional Documents
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138b PDF
138b PDF
Research Center
Forschungszentrum
for Constructive
für konstruktive
Conflict Management
Konfliktbearbeitung
Berghof Handbook
for
Conflict Transformation
Assistance • Just
Ronald Peace • Multi-Track • Peacebuilding • Peace Constituencies •
Ronald J. Fisher
Peacekeeping • Peacemaking • Post Conflict Rehabilitation • Civil Society • Conflict
Copyright
Berghof Handbook Contact Address:
for Conflict Transformation info@berghof-center.org
April 2001-03-30 Berghof Research Center for Constructive
© Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management,
Conflict Management Altensteinstr. 48a,
D-14195 Berlin,
ISSN 1616-2544 Germany.
Contents
I. Introduction .......................................................................................................................1
V. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 24
Third parties need to think carefully about who they are and
Fisher
precisely which attributes and interests they bring to the triadic
bargaining situation. Mediators are distinguished by not having the same
identity as either of the parties, nor has any direct interest in the dispute;
were this so, the mediator would be party to it. This is not to say that
mediators are disinterested, or that they have no tangible interests to be
served by entering the domain of the conflict. States, for example, often
enter into mediation of third-party conflicts in order to advance their own
security or economic interests, to maintain or increase their sphere of
influence or to help keep an alliance together. As Christopher Mitchell
(1988) points out, the motives for mediation are quite diverse and thus
cannot be taken for granted. Motivations operate at both the individual
(e.g., altruism, ego-enhancement, material gain) and the institutional
level (e.g., the role of the UN, the prestige of a state). In all cases, the
mediator receives some benefit from his or her assumption of the role,
either through the process (e.g., improved status) or in the outcomes
(e.g., advancement of security interests).
Kevin Avruch and Peter Black (1993) have proposed that the
first step in a successful intervention should be to carry out a cultural
analysis of the conflict, one which goes beyond one’s own cultural
identity, seeking instead to ascertain the particular cultural dimensions of
the conflict and to assess their relevance to its expression and potential
resolution. Adding cultural analysis to the usual historical, political,
strategic and social analyses that third parties traditionally carry out
promises to provide a richer, firmer and more respectful base from which
to work.
Fisher
IV.2 Power Asymmetries
P a g e 19
IV.3. Third-Party Bias
V. Conclusion
Fisher, R. J. 1972. “Third party consultation: A method for the study and
resolution of conflict.” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 16: 67-94.
Kressel, K., D. Pruitt and Associates, eds. 1989. Mediation Research: The
Process and Effectiveness of Third-Party Intervention. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
P a g e 27