Ronnen, Edite
(2011)
Mediation in a conflict society: an ethnographic view on mediation processes in Israel.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis addresses the question: how do individuals in a conflict society engage in
peaceful dispute resolution through mediation? It provides a close look at Israeli
society, in which people face daily conflicts. These include confrontations on many
levels: the national, such as wars and terror attacks; the social, such as ethnic,
religious and economic tensions; and the personal level, whereby the number of
lawyers and legal claims per capita are among the highest in the world. The
magnitude, pervasiveness, and often existential nature of these conflicts have led
sociologists to label Israel a ‘conflict society’.
Mediation practice came into this society and challenged the existing ethos and
norms by proposing a discourse of dialogue and cooperation. The thesis focuses on
the meeting point that mediation engenders between narratives of conflict, which
have developed in this environment, and the mediation processes, which set out to
achieve a collaborative discourse and mutual recognition.
The fieldwork, forming the core of the thesis, consists of the observation of
supervised mediation processes of civil disputes in two leading mediation centres,
and interviews with professionals and key figures in the discipline. The wide variety
of voices of a broad range of interviewees and many different parties provide for
rich, qualitative data. The use of the narrative‐ethnographic approach in observing
mediation processes helps identify key themes in participantsʹ narratives. The
subsequent analysis leads to the insight that these mediation processes reflect, in a
subtle way, the narratives, beliefs and needs of individuals in a conflict society.
The findings from this study indicate that perceptions of life in a conflict society are
clearly manifested through mediation processes. These place obstacles and inhibit
the attainment of agreements. Yet, surprisingly, some of the findings also
demonstrate an aversion to conflict and a well‐expressed desire to maintain
communication and to achieve peaceful resolution.
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