Elements and Reflections on Success, Failures, and Lessons Learned in International Mediation

This Teaching Package focuses on some key issues related to the discussion of mediation success. Some of the issues that will be covered are: success criteria used by scholars to evaluate mediation outcomes and independent variables discussed that explain mediation success. These variables are usually grouped into two categories as context and process variables. The following variables are scrutinized in detail throughout the course: nature of the dispute (ripeness, conflict intensity, nature of the conflict), relationship between conflict parties (readiness, constituency relations), bias and impartiality of the mediator, sequencing and complementarity of mediator strategies and activities, and inclusivity and local ownership in the mediation process. The Teaching Package will explore the dynamics outlined above through presentations by the instructor, class discussion, and analysis of case studies.