January 29, 2009: Third Parties

Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies. John Paul Lederach, 1997. Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace 63-71.

This chapter addresses the idea of peace as a process and conflict as a progression. Lederach places a strong emphasis on two points: (1) That conflict should be seen as going through stages (he uses Curle's model as to exemplify this), and (2) That peacebuilding can involve different roles, functions, and activities. He makes a point that it is common in society today to focus on the personality of the independent mediator rather than the combination of roles and activities usually necessary to make mediation successful.
I thought this chapter mirrored a lot of the ideas seen in the readings for last class. There is definitely a trend of supporting the view of peace and conflict as dynamic. I enjoy seeing the application of different models and ideas in this chapter because it helps me to put it all together. The simplicity of Curle's model is appealing to me because it leaves room for the intricacies that I think are often unique to different conflicts while at the same time providing a clear guide for the path of conflict and the peace process. I also like Lederach's description and interpretation of the Curle model because it helps the reader to see how this model can be used to develop a successful intervention strategy.

Peacemaking and the Consultant’s Role. C. R. Mitchell. Gower Publishing Co. 1981. Westmead, Hampstead, UK 102-136.

This chapter initiates a discussion on third parties in consultant conflict resolution. Mitchell talks about descriptive dimensions of different consultancy approaches, such as the emphasis put on long term versus short term solutions, and the importance of the nature of the parties, participants, and the conflict overall in determining the successfulness of the effort. Mitchell talks about different types of third parties in terms of affiliation, qualities, and functions. The author introduces a "cube" diagram that puts three important descriptive dimensions (distance, focus, and format) on each literal dimension of the shape to help plot different types of consultant resolution. This diagram is one way, the author argues, at taking a beginning step toward seeing what types of consultant conflict resolution are successful.
Although this chapter was much harder to read than Lederach's, I enjoyed it in a way. I liked that Mitchell began by giving a definition of what can be regarded as "consultant conflict resolution". This reminds me of Reimann's reference to the confusing use of terminology in the field of Conflict Resolution because he does a good job of laying out the boundaries around what it really means (at least in his study). Mitchell also addressed the idea that it is the consultant's job to improve communication between the parties. Although this seems like an obvious, I can appreciate the idea that sometimes parties in conflict need a "translator" of some kind to help sort out information. During meetings in my house, two people might be agreeing and still arguing because they are approaching a topic from different viewpoints. I have always found this both interesting and frustrating and I can see how helpful a consultant would be in such a situation. I was slightly disappointed in a way by this chapter because I felt like the author went into so much detail about different descriptive dimensions only to end with a simple diagram using only 3.