Is International Mediation in Crisis?
Since 1989, the mediation of violent political conflicts on the international scene has aroused renewed interest among political actors (States, international organizations, NGOS). A proliferation of actors and mediation initiatives accompanied by an upsurge in research programs and publications on mediation, negotiations and peace processes, are producing a new body of knowledge devoted to negotiated strategies for ending conflict. The repeated failures to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian, Afghan, Syrian, Malian and other conflicts, however, seem to have brought this dynamic to a halt. How can we explain this apparent crisis of mediation and peace processes? How can we explain the repetition of obvious mistakes? What are the lessons that key actors in international mediation are learning from their successes and failures? This text introduces four mediation case studies that attempt to answer these questions.