Dialogical power negotiations in conflict mediation

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-105
Author(s):  
Emma van Bijnen

Abstract In this study, mediator – party power dynamics in workplace disputes mediation dialogues are examined. Adopting Gramsci’s concept of hegemony (e.g. 2005) and Foucault′s notion that power is not fixed in dialogues, but constantly negotiated by participants (e.g. Foucault 1980), the analyses show that the power dynamics shift in the mediation setting when mediators subordinate dominant parties and enforce their own formalized power as procedural guides to design (Aakhus 2003, 2007) a favorable context for conflict resolution. When their procedural power is threatened, mediators may use specific devices in their interventions that correlate with the four devices – interruption, enforcing explicitness, topic control, and formulation – Fairclough (1989, 135–137) states can be used by dominant participants to control weaker parties in dialogues.

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-97
Author(s):  
Mohammad Tarikul Islam

Peacemaking involves a set of goals, policies, and strategies, and those are directed to prevent the occurrence of armed conflicts and to avoid violence. Peacemaking solicits a legitimate framework through which all actors could peacefully participate in social, economic, and political life of the nation. The role of civil society groups in peacebuilding has not been adequately discussed in both academic writings and policy analysis of Nepal. The pro-democracy movement jointly launched by the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M) witnessed a shift in the political landscape of Nepal, bringing an end to the decade-old Maoist insurgency as King Gyanendra stepped down on April 24, 2006. Therefore, the study carefully exemplifies the various activities which different civil society groups performed and attempted to analyze their roles in the prolonged process of peacebuilding. The responsibilities of civil society in Nepal, particularly in the aftermath of Maoist Revolution, are found to be focused and calculated, and effective to some extent. Collective efforts of different civil society groups helped to restart searching common ground for conflict mediation and peace in Nepal after a decade-long Maoist conflict. The underlying community interests for conflict resolution have been the business for all and where civil society has a spirited stake.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Bárbara Lupetti Baptista ◽  
Kátia Mello ◽  
Klever Filpo ◽  
Thais Borzino

Resumo:Este artigo busca descrever e refletir sobre os diferentes usos da mediação de conflitos no Rio de Janeiro e em Buenos Aires a partir da observação empírica de sessões de mediação e entrevistas com atores do campo. No Brasil, a Resolução 125 do CNJ e, recentemente, Código de Processo Civil e a Lei de Mediação, pretendem estimular o emprego desse método no âmbito dos Tribunais. Etnografias realizadas entre 2010 e 2014 evidenciaram que a mediação realizada nos espaços judiciais, geralmente como uma etapa processual, apresenta algumas complexidades. É difícil para as partes litigantes perceberem a distinção entre o processo e a mediação, que se torna mais uma formalidade a cumprir, do que uma forma diferenciada, não-adversarial, de tratamento do conflito, que é a proposta da mediação. Em Buenos Aires, por sua vez, a lei determina que a mediação é etapa obrigatória e prévia ao ajuizamento da ação, além de ser realizada em espaços extrajudiciais. São opções distintas no campo da administração de conflitos. O trabalho diz respeito ao contraste observado entre esses dois modelos de solução de conflitos, que ora se aproximam e ora se afastam.Palavras-Chave:  Administração de conflitos; Judiciário; Mediação de conflitos. ***Resumen:Este artículo tiene como meta describir y reflejar sobre los distintos usos de la mediación de conflictos en las ciudades de Rio de Janeiro y Buenos Aires, desde la observación empírica de las sesiones de    mediación y de entrevistas con los actores del campo. En Brasil, la Resolución n° 125 de CNJ y, recién, el Código de Proceso Civil y la Ley de Mediación, tratan de la mediación en el ámbito de los Tribunales. Etnografías hechas en Brasil, entre 2010 y 2014, apuntan que la mediación hecha en los espacios judiciales, generalmente como una etapa procesal, expone algunas cuestiones complejas. Es difícil para las partes en conflicto percibieren la distinción entre el proceso judicial y la mediación, porque si está hecha dentro de los tribunales, queda más como una etapa del proceso judicial en lugar de mostrarse como una distinta manera de tratamiento del conflicto, como intenta la mediación. En Buenos Aires, por otra parte, la ley indica que la mediación es un paso obligatorio y anterior al comienzo del juicio y, más allá, es hecha en espacios extrajudiciales. Estas son opciones distintas en el campo de la gestión de los conflictos. Este artículo expone, por lo tanto, los contrastes entre los dos modelos de mediación, que en parte se acercan y, por otra parte, se alejan.Palabras Clave: Gestión de Conflictos; Poder Judicial; Mediación. ***Abstract:This article has the objective of describing and reflecting the different uses of conflict mediation in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, starting from the empiric observation of the mediation sessions and interviews with camp actors. In Brazil, the CNJ Resolution n° 125 and, recently, the Civil Procedure Code and the Mediation Law, intend to stimulate the application of this method in the Courts of Justice. Ethnographies accomplished between 2010 and 2014 showed that mediation is realized in judicial spaces, usually as a procedural step, showing some complexities. It is hard for the litigant parts notice the distinction between the legal process and the mediation, because this last one becomes only one more formality to accomplish, than that a different way, not adversary, of conflict treatment, that it is the real goal of mediation. In Buenos Aires, for its turn, the law sets that mediation is a mandatory step and has to be done before the proposal of judicial action, besides that it is realized in no-judicial spaces. Both cities have distinct options of conflicts administration. This article intends to show the contrast observed between this two forms of conflict resolution, that one time get closer and the other time back off. Key words: Conflict Management; Judiciary; Mediation of Conflicts.


2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Forrester ◽  
Armen Tashchian

This paper reports results of a study of the effects of five personality dimensions on conflict resolution preferences in student teams. Two hundred and sixteen students provided self-reports of personality dimensions and conflict styles using the Neo-FFI and ROCI-II scales. Simultaneous effects of five personality dimensions on five conflict resolution styles were modeled using Partial Least Squares (PLS) procedures. Results indicate that agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and extroversion impacted conflict resolution styles, whereas neuroticism did not. Findings are discussed along with their implications for team formation, team training, and conflict mediation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Art Dewulf ◽  
Willem Elbers

While cross-sector partnerships are sometimes depicted as a pragmatic problem solving arrangements devoid of politics and power, they are often characterized by power dynamics. Asymmetries in power can have a range of undesirable consequences as low-power actors may be co-opted, ignored, over-ruled, or excluded by dominant parties. As of yet, there has been relatively little conceptual work on the power strategies that actors in cross-sector partnerships deploy to shape collective decisions to their own advantage. Insights from across the literatures on multiparty collaboration, cross-sector partnerships, interactive governance, collaborative governance, and network governance, are integrated into a theoretical framework for empirically analyzing power sources (resources, discursive legitimacy, authority) and power strategies (power over and power in cross-sector partnerships). Three inter-related claims are central to our argument: (1) the intersection between the issue field addressed in the partnership and an actor’s institutional field shape the power sources available to an actor; (2) an actor can mobilize these power sources directly in strategies to achieve power in cross-sector partnerships; and, (3) an actor can also mobilize these power sources indirectly, through setting the rules of the game, to achieve power over partnerships. The framework analytically connects power dynamics to their broader institutional setting and allows for spelling out how sources of power are used in direct and indirect power strategies that steer the course of cross-sector partnerships. The resulting conceptual framework provides the groundwork for pursuing new lines of empirical inquiry into power dynamics in cross-sector partnerships.


Across Africa, artists increasingly turn to NGO sponsorship in pursuit of greater influence and funding, while simultaneously NGOs—both international and local—commission arts projects to buttress their interventions and achieve greater reach and marketability. As a result, the key values of artistic expression become “healing” and “sensitization” measured in turn by “impact” and “effectiveness.” Such rubrics obscure the aesthetic complexities of the artworks and the power dynamics that inform their production. Clashes arise as foreign NGOs import foreign aesthetic models and preconceptions about their efficacy, alongside foreign interpretations of politics, medicine, psychology, trauma, memorialization, and so on. Meanwhile, each community embraces its own aesthetic precedents, often at odds with the intentions of humanitarian agencies. The arts are a sphere in which different worldviews enter into conflict and conversation. To tackle the consequences of aid agency arts deployment, the volume assembles ten case studies from across the African continent employing multiple media including music, sculpture, photography, drama, storytelling, ritual, and protest marches. Organized under three widespread yet underanalyzed objectives for arts in emergency—demonstration, distribution, and remediation—each case offers a different disciplinary and methodological perspective on a common complication in NGO-sponsored creativity. The Art of Emergency shifts the discourse on arts activism away from fixations on message and toward diverse investigations of aesthetics and power negotiations. In doing so, this volume brings into focus the conscious and unconscious configurations of humanitarian activism, the social lives it attempts to engage, and the often fraught interactions between the two.


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