The Era of Private Peacemakers : A New Dialogic Approach to Mediation

The field of peacemaking is in turbulent change. There are more peacemaking actors than before but fewer success stories, and an increasing number of violent conflicts tend to resist negotiated agreements. Tools and practices created for traditional inter- and intra-state conflicts have become ineffective and revision of old mediation practices is called for. This book examines how the private peacemaking organisations have faced this challenge. In the 21st century, private peacemakers have become a central part of peace diplomacy and have appeared as flexible actors whose innovative thinking paves the way for reconsidering and reinventing old practices of mediation. Instead of emphasizing the act of resolution, a new emphasis is given to the transformation of violence into a peace system, the complexity of conflict and the inadequateness of rational management. Furthermore, this shift has brought civic society actors from the field of reconciliation to the field of peace mediation. This new pragmatic approach under development can be called dialogic mediation. Marko Lehti is University Researcher (Senior Research Fellow) at Tampere Peace Research Institute and the Academic Director of the MA Programme Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, both at the University of Tampere, Finland. Dr. Lehti's research in the field of peace and conflict research particularly focuses on peace mediation and dialogues, crises of liberal peace, transformation of identities and the idea of Nordic peace.-- Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Introduction (Marko Lehti)....Pages 1-12 Front Matter ....Pages 13-13 Resilient (Peace) Mediation Practice (Marko Lehti)....Pages 15-35 Private Peacemaking (Marko Lehti)....Pages 37-53 Cold War Experiences of Nongovernmental Conciliation (Marko Lehti)....Pages 55-62 Mediation Success in the Frame of Liberal Peace Critique (Marko Lehti)....Pages 63-76 From Management of Incompatibles to the Transformation of Antagonism (Marko Lehti)....Pages 77-92 Dialogic Transformation (Marko Lehti)....Pages 93-102 Front Matter ....Pages 103-103 Professionalization of the Private Peacemaking Sector (Marko Lehti)....Pages 105-124 Smart Actors Within the Complexity of Multitrack Peace Diplomacy (Marko Lehti)....Pages 125-144 The Finnish Way: Cooperative Interaction Between Official and Private Actors (Marko Lehti)....Pages 145-154 Towards a Locally Owned Inclusive Peace Process (Marko Lehti)....Pages 155-163 Inclusivity in Track One Mediation and National Dialogues (Marko Lehti)....Pages 165-177 ‘Hitting Moving Targets’: Transformative Dialogues (Marko Lehti)....Pages 179-204 Towards Post-management: Dialogic Practice (Marko Lehti)....Pages 205-226 The Dialogic Mediation: The Pragmatic Approach (Marko Lehti)....Pages 227-236 Back Matter ....Pages 237-263 The field of peacemaking is in turbulent change. There are more peacemaking actors than before but fewer success stories, and an increasing number of violent conflicts tend to resist negotiated agreements. Tools and practices created for traditional inter-and intra-state conflicts have become ineffective and revision of old mediation practices is called for. This book examines how the private peacemaking organisations have faced this challenge. In the 21st century, private peacemakers have become a central part of peace diplomacy and have appeared as flexible actors whose innovative thinking paves the way for reconsidering and reinventing old practices of mediation. Instead of emphasizing the act of resolution, a new emphasis is given to the transformation of violence into a peace system, the complexity of conflict and the inadequateness of rational management. Furthermore, this shift has brought civic society actors from the field of reconciliation to the field of peace mediation. This new pragmatic approach under development can be called dialogic mediation--back cover Annotation The field of peacemaking is in turbulent change. There are more peacemaking actors than before but fewer success stories, and an increasing number of violent conflicts tend to resist negotiated agreements. Tools and practices created for traditional inter- and intra-state conflicts have become ineffective and revision of old mediation practices is called for. This book examines how the private peacemaking organisations have faced this challenge. In the 21st century, private peacemakers have become a central part of peace diplomacy and have appeared as flexible actors whose innovative thinking paves the way for reconsidering and reinventing old practices of mediation. Instead of emphasizing the act of resolution, a new emphasis is given to the transformation of violence into a peace system, the complexity of conflict and the inadequateness of rational management. Furthermore, this shift has brought civic society actors from the field of reconciliation to the field of peace mediation. This new pragmatic approach under development can be called dialogic mediation