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Regulars
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Written by Matthew Rushton
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Friday, 01 February 2008 00:00 |
 Research on The Secrets of Successful and Unsuccessful Mediators, as revealed in January’s JAMS Dispute Resolution Alert offers few surprises, and no secrets.
Stephen B Goldberg and Margaret L Shaw’s conclusions are nevertheless consistent with Amanda Bucklow’s earlier findings in her studies on mediator competence. According to the JAMS research, ‘The central conclusion to be drawn…is that a core element (perhaps The core element) in mediator success is the mediator’s ability to establish a relationship of trust and confidence with the disputing parties.’ Trust and confidence.
With this in mind, the most recent MORI poll on trust in the professions makes a diverting, if not wholly accurate, gauge of which professions might make decent mediators. And, naturally, those which might not. Gossipy, slippery, venal and unreliable, journalists (how it pains me) are the least publicly trusted profession. No surprises there. A mere 1% more trustworthy than journalists, according to the same poll, are that vain and sleazy bunch, politicians.
That, however, is a problem. Anyone suggesting that Piers Morgan or Kelvin MacKenzie would be the right to mediate a settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians would, rightly, be laughed out of the room. Yet, wherever there’s major conflict a statesman, usually a politician, with an entourage of civil servants and political advisers, is parachuted in to negotiate.
Now, I’ve no interest in stroking the egos of my readership, but input from trained, accomplished mediators should be no-brainer. Stopping a war, as former diplomat Michael Forbes Smith revealed last month in The Mediator, involves many of same processes as ending a commercial dispute. And when one looks at current mediation efforts in Colombia, Lebanon, Kenya, Israel and Palestine and what they’ve achieved, one must reluctantly conclude that the politicians could do better.
There are of course honourable exceptions. US Senator George Mitchell, for example, played a pivotal role in the pushing the opposing sides in Northern Ireland towards signing the Good Friday Agreement. Mitchell, however, invested five long years in gaining each side’s trust. Contrast that with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s recent negotiations with The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish initials, FARC. Having negotiated the release of three hostages (one, a child, it later transpired was no longer being held captive) in a series of photo-ops and interviews Chavez declared the matter a FARC victory that should give the rebel group political status.
Powerful egos and dazzling charisma can sometimes blast through deadlock, but lasting solutions emerge away from the cameras and TV crews. Amanda Bucklow’s definition of a successful mediation is one where she can ‘slip away unnoticed’ at the end because the parties are so busy celebrating. The time has come for mediators to mediate and politicians to legislate.
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Rushton Roars 
