Intermediaries

By
Heidi Burgess

January 2004

Additional insights into intermediary roles are offered by Beyond Intractability project participants.

Intermediaries (or "third parties") are people, organizations, or nations who enter a conflict to try to help the parties de-escalate or resolve it. They generally do not take sides (although they can, on occassion, be partisan to start with -- see the essay on "insider-partials"). [1] Intermediaries can be formal or "informal."

Formal intermediaries are people who are professional conflict resolvers and who are hired specifically to do that job. They may be professional mediators, arbitrators, facilitators, or judges, who work privately or with a government agency (even representing the government itself as with official diplomats). At the international level, these people are referred to as "Track I" diplomats, as distinguished from "Track II" diplomats, described below.

Informal intermediaries are people who find themselves in an intermediary role, but it is not something they usually do as a profession. Parents breaking up a fight between children, friends intervening to help another couple save their marriage, people trying to solve a community problem by having some people over to their house for a talk are "informal intermediaries." So too are private citizens or non-governmental organizations who try to build bridges between hostile nations.

For example, the organization Seeds of Peace brings Palestinian and Israeli teenagers together at a camp in Maine (U.S.A.) to try to build understanding and friendships between them. Normally, informal intermediaries are non-governmental actors, such as religious institutions, academics, former government officials, non-governmental organizations, humanitarian organizations, think tanks, who try to act as a go-between to try to de-escalate or even resolve an intractable conflict. At the international level, this is referred to as "Track II" diplomacy.

Formal or informal, the most visible and recognized intermediary roles are mediators and arbitrators. But there are other roles as well. In his book "The Third Side," Bill Ury identifies 10 such roles:

Provider (of needed resources)
Teacher (to give new ideas for how to resolve the conflict, or at least for new ways to approach it
Bridge-builder, who (like Seeds of Peace) brings people together where they can get to know each other better
Mediators (who help parties work out their problems themselves)
Arbitrators (who listen to both sides and then make a decision about what should happen)
Equalizers (who empower the lower power group(s) so that they can then negotiate more effectively with the other side)
Healers who help parties to apologize, forgive, and become reconciled
Witnesses who observe what is going on and call attention to injustice or human rights violations
Referees who try to keep both sides "fighting fairly" and
Peacekeepers who try to keep the parties apart so they don't fight (at least physically) at all [2]

Since intractable conflicts tend to be intractable because they are very complex, with many parties, many deep-rooted issues, and no apparent, "way out," all of these types of intermediaries have a role to play, perhaps not all at once, but over the course of the conflict. Rather than detailing these roles here, they are discussed in the essays on each party and also on each process.

[1] John Paul.Lederach, Of Nets, Nails, and Problems: The Folk Language of Conflict Resolution in a Central American Setting. Conflict Resolution: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Ed. Kevin Avruch, Peter W. Black and Joseph A. Scimecca. Greenwood Press: New York, Westport, Connecticut, London, 1991. Pp. 165-186.

[2] William Ury, The Third Side. New York: Penguin Books. 2000. See also http://www.thirdside.org

Use the following to cite this article:
Burgess, Heidi. "Intermediaries." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: January 2004 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/intermediary_roles/>.

Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic

Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:

Online (Web) Sources

"Selecting a Mediator: A Guide for the Public." ,
Available at: http://www.hawaii.gov/jud/selmed.htm.

To make an informed choice of a mediator, the consumer must have information and the ability to evaluate that information. This guide begins the educational process by presenting a framework for understanding mediator competence. This guide is for anyone looking for a mediator. It will be especially useful to lawyers or other professionals advising their clients, court systems and mediation programs that provide information to consumers, judges who refer litigants to mediation, and people who have been referred by the court to mediation and who must choose their own mediator. The guide generally discusses the qualifications and characteristics a trustworthy and competent mediator should have, as well as a process for narrowing down one's choices.

Offline (Print) Sources

Crocker, Chester A. "Intervention: Toward Best Practices and a Holistic View." In Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict. Edited by Aall, Pamela, Fen Osler Hampson and Chester A. Crocker, eds. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, September 2001.
This chapter is grounded in the idea that most contemporary conflicts will require some form of intervention from outside, third-party forces in order to control and settle them. THerefre, the chapter covers a variety of conflict types and situations in which third parties intervened. The aim is to try and flesh out a set of "best practices" for: different third party intervenors; for the use of certain technologies; for intervention in various types of societies; and for intervention at certain points of the conflict cycle.

Hampson, Fen Osler. "Parent, Midwife or Accidental Executioner?: The Role of Third Parties in Ending Violent Conflict." In Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict. Edited by Aall, Pamela, Chester A. Crocker and Fen Osler Hampson, eds. Herndon, VA: USIP Press, July 1, 2001.
"This chapter has two goals. First, it will undertake a comparative assessment of the key assumptions--both about conflict and about third-party roles--underlying the different schools of thought on intervention. The chapter will argue that there is in fact a close relationship between the way third-party roles are defined, on the one hand, and the treatment of causes of intercommunal conflict by scholars and policy analysts, on the other....Second, the chapter will argue that although these four different schools or approaches to third-party intervention--which are, to some extent, rooted in different disciplinary perspectives--often present themselves as mutually exclusive alternatives, they should not be viewed as such."

Mayer, Bernard. The Dynamics of Conflict Resolution: A Practitioner's Guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2000.
Mayer's volume provides a synthesis of the theoretical and pragmatic perspectives on conflict resolution. After exploring the nature of conflict from several theoretical perspectives, he proceeds to deal specifically with issues of impasse, advocacy, communication, and mediation. The author's discussion focuses heavily on the roles that third party intermediaries play in resolving conflict. Click here for more info.

Laue, James. "The Emergence and Institutionalization of Third-Party Roles in Conflict." In Conflict: Readings in Management & Resolution. Edited by Dukes, Frank and John Burton, eds. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990.
This chapter provides a good overview of the variety of roles that third-party intervenors can play in resolving conflicts. The author offers important definitions and background on the scope of the field of conflict intervention and also provides analysis of the various third-party intermediary roles.

Ury, William L. The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop. New York: Penguin Books, September 2000.
In this book, William Ury explains that it takes two sides to fight and a third to stop it. Based on years of experience as a conflict resolution practitioner, Ury describes ten practical roles that people can play to prevent destructive conflict. He argues that fighting is not inevitable human behavior and that we can transform battles into constructive conflict and cooperation by turning to what he calls, "the third side".

Fisher, Simon, ed. Working with Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action. Zed Books, January 1, 2000.
This source book provides a range of practical tools, processes, ideas and techniques for tackling conflict. Arranged in four parts (Analysis, Strategy, and Learning) the book draws on the experience of over 300 practitioners worldwide. It has been translated into several languages, including French, Russian and Spanish.

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Examples Illustrating this Topic:

Online (Web) Sources

ADR Options: A Spectrum of Processes.
Available at: http://www.directionservice.org/cadre/other.cfm.
This article provides brief descriptions of a number of dispute resolution processes, ranging from informal discussion to formal adjudication.

Morris, Catherine. Definitions in the Field of Dispute Resolution and Conflict Transformation.
Available at: http://www.peacemakers.ca/publications/ADRdefinitions.html.
This site offers a brief description of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and defines specific ADR processes including negotiation, mediation, facilitation, adjudication, arbitration, and ombudsman, among others.

Krikorian, Adrienne L. Litigate Or Mediate?: Mediation As An Alternative To Lawsuits. Mediate.com.
Available at: http://www.mediate.com/articles/krikorian.cfm.
This article answers a few questions about mediation: What is mediation?; Who can mediate a case?; Should I mediate or litigate my case?; Will the court make me mediate?; How do I start the mediation process?; What if mediation does not settle my case?; and What is the secret to a successful mediation?

Ahrens, Ed. What Does A Mediator Do?. Mediation Information & Resource Center.
Available at: http://www.mediate.com/articles/ahrens1.cfm.
This article explains the role a mediator actually plays in the process of mediation.

Grant, Leslie. "What is Arbitration?." ,
Available at: http://www.mediate.com/articles/grant.cfm.

This article outlines the general principles of arbitration, the different types of arbitration and the advantages it has over other kinds of conflict resolution processes.

Offline (Print) Sources

Lewicki, Roy J., David Saunders and John Minton. Negotiation, 3rd Edition. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin-McGraw Hill, 1999.
This is a comprehensive textbook on the conflict resolution process of negotiation. It covers a multitude of aspects of negotiation including fundamentals such as negotiation's different forms and the associated tactics. It discusses various subprocesses of negotiation and different contexts in which negotiation may occur. Lastly, it includes a chapter on how to deal with particularly difficult negotiations. Click here for more info.

The Facilitator Excellence Handbook: Helping People Work Creatively and Productively Together. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 1998.
This book provides a clear discussion of facilitation and the skills involved in helping groups work effectively together. The author outlines basic facilitation skills, an array of specific methods and tools, and ways to design facilitations. The book also discusses the "artistic" aspects of facilitation.

Moore, Christopher W. The Mediation Process: Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict, 2nd Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996.
This book discusses the characteristics of mediation and the increasing breadth of situations in which mediation has come to be used for resolving disputes. It offers a multitude of practical advice for how to actually carry out the mediation process. It is one of the most comprehensive works on the subject. Click here for more info.

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