Current Illusions and Delusions about Conflict Management—In Africa and Elsewhere

Abstract

Responses to our article have either elaborated and further illustrated our points, or encouraged innovative directions we might not have thought about, and were for the most part thoughtful, useful, and most encouraging.The subject of ADR often generates strong responses or opinions, for reasons that are not altogether clear to us. Some years ago, the first author of this paper spoke to the Family Mediators of America at their national meetings. When the talk was concluded, half the audience reacted with a standing ovation, while the other half glared in silence. Then, a bright-looking woman walked over to the speaker and said, "Some people come here and tell us what we should be doing, others what we can do better, but you came and told us what we we're doing, and for that I am grateful."We were motivated to write our paper because most professional dispute resolution workers do not understand the significance or consequences of their work in a larger sense. Often ADR specialists work within too narrow a framework. This micro-frame-their practice-prevents many of them from understanding not only the origin of ADR discourses in national and global power structures, but the purposes of ADR as well, especially the hegemonic purposes. Moreover, practitioners often cannot see, let alone understand, the role of ADR and its consequences in their practice when they are all added up. If, for example, one is aware of the imposition of American ADR as a condition for foreign aid or investment, one begins to see the need for a holistic perspective on ADR rather than "mechanical recipes" for how to do it better, one by one. There is no universal framework for conflict

Mobilizing Truth: Agenda Setting in a Transnational Social Movement

“…Ethnographic methods, in particular, are useful for the study of a TSM, as observing and analyzing relationships between transnational and local actors can help uncover power relations, social linkages, and information exchanges that cross national boundaries (Merry 2006a). At the same time, qualitative field methods, particularly ethnography, are usually site specific, premised on developing intimate knowledge about a particular place through sustained interactions with social actors (Marcus and Fischer 1986;Wilson 1997Wilson , 2007Marcus 1998;Nader 1991Nader , 2002.…”

Métodos Alternativos De Solução De Conflitos (Adr): A Retórica Da Ideologia Da Harmonia Versus Processos De Controle

“…Em outro trabalho GRANDE, 2002), em parceria com a professora italiana Elisabeta Grande, as autoras trabalham com as ilusões e delírios sobre a aplicação dos ADRs em sociedades outras que não a estadunidense. Pontuam que qualquer pessoa que tenha se dedicado ao estudo conflito é capaz de perceber que existe uma construção histórica por trás dessa indústria de resolução de conflitos que hoje se estabelece nos Estados Unidos.…”

“Our Goal Is Not to Punish but to Reconcile”: Mediation in Postgenocide Rwanda

“…Anthropologist Laurel Rose () has described being sent to fact find about ADR approaches in Rwanda as early as 1994. Nader and her coauthors have suggested that the World Bank, which supports programs in Rwanda, mandates the use of mediation to solve conflicts with many assisted countries (Mattei and Nader :77–78; Nader and Grande :591). Authorities regularly justified Rwanda's gacaca courts, comite y'abunzi, and legal aid clinic in terms of increasing efficiency and “unclog[ging] courtrooms” (Butamire ), consistent with nationwide strategic planning goals of decentralization (Ministry of Local Government, Good Governance, Community Development, and Social Affairs ), and framed them as self‐evidently better than, and in opposition to, adversarial law.…”

“…The legal aid clinic mediators were not “insiders” as such but were ambiguously and variously placed in relation to the state as academics and students, not elected officials or state representatives. By contrast, Nader critiques how mandatory mediation is typically private or even secret, unregulated and uncontrolled, with limited or no appeals, minimal participation, and outsider mediators (Nader :282–285, :511, :472, :307–310, :45; Nader and Grande :581, 585).…”