Effective Mediative Diplomacy and Its Seven Virtues: The Case of the European Union

Abstract

The purpose of this contribution is to provide a practitioner's view of the effectiveness of institutions in enacting a peace mediation approach. The European Union is used to provide an illustrative example but this analysis might also be applied to other institutions, possibly in a comparative context. The article suggests an actor-centered approach to assessing mediation effectiveness through seven "virtues:" competence of the actor; political will, norms, and values; resources to induce mediation leverage; legitimacy, presence, and mandate; information and analysis; multitrack competence; and follow-up, sustainability, and accountability. The contribution aims to facilitate the work of scholars and practitioners who work in this field of mediation, as the author has noted a confusion about what the field of peace mediation in terms of practice and inquiry actually is, which results in discussions one could characterize as "ships passing in the night," which advances neither scholarship, nor practice. As such, this article calls for greater attentiveness to a few further dimensions of mediation process with intention of stimulating more research in this field and a fuller understanding of the evolution of peacemaking practice itself.

Orchestrating peace in South Sudan: exploring the effectiveness of the European Union’s mediation support

“…Coordination can take place in official formatsthrough establishing a formal coordination process between the EU, the third party mediator and potentially other relevant actors and stakeholderor in an informal and ad hoc way. The EU can rely on its diplomatic infrastructure, resources, and networks to provide offices, enhance communication and information exchange, and facilitate agreement on joint goals, priorities and strategies as well as the sharing of resources (Nan 2003, Herrberg 2018. Similar to endorsement, EU coordination is effective if it strengthens the status and recognition of a third party's role as central mediator.…”

Civil War Conflict Resolution from the Perspectives of the Practitioner and the Academic

“…Based upon the work of Omer Shapira, Herrberg contends the effectiveness of the process is a function of eight mediator-centric variables: (1) competence, (2) political will and values (e.g., confidentiality and impartiality), (3) the ability to leverage financial and human resources, (4) legitimacy and a mandate (the mediator can create a sense of obligation in the disputants), (5) information and analysis (e.g., key intelligence), (6) the willingness to take a multitrack approach (provides multiple resolution strategies), and (7) suitable postmediation monitoring (e.g., support for implementation). 10 There are several important takeaways from this article. First, care should be taken when identifying mediation cases and studying peace processes for evidence of success.…”