Activist Mediators, Mediator Activists: The Neutrality Trap

Abstract

Reviewed by Lydia Nussbaum and Jennifer W. Reynolds Mediators are supposed to be neutral. They should not be biased toward a particular party, and they should not advocate for a particular outcome. Instead, mediators should guide disputants through a rich discussion that surfaces issues, resolves differences, and makes possible sensible agreements. Whether mediators perform these functions through a facilitative or evaluative approach does not change the basic idea that mediators assume their role as process guide in a relatively disinterested manner, as a "third-party neutral."But can mediators become too neutral, thus losing their distinctive ability to empower parties and promote transformative, holistic results and a more just society? That is the question posed by Bernie Mayer and Jackie Font-Guzmán in The Neutrality Trap: Disrupting and Connecting for Social Change. The book-part autobiography, part memoir, part think piece, part manifesto, part call-to-action-explores the familiar and intractable problem of neutrality in mediation through an unambiguously political lens, reflecting the current heightened anxiety around political and social polarization in the United States and elsewhere. The dynamics surrounding the ascendance of Donald Trump and Trumpism in the United States figure prominently in the authors' analysis, and the book explicitly strives to marshal the energies and expertise of conflict resolution professionals to resist repression and regressive, reactionary