How does mediators keep their enthusiasm and prevent their work from becoming dull and just a job like any other job? How do they avoid falling into the trap of doing exactly the same as those they want to provide an alternative to? How do they maintain the qualities of mediation?

The author of this book believes it is time for mediators to look further than merely discussing skills, techniques and models, and to take up the personal challenge and responsibility of being conscious of the deeper values and beliefs that drive them, and then constantly, during and after each mediation, to evaluate what they did and how they did it. Just as they, in mediation, believe that the ultimate responsibility for reaching a satisfactory outcome to a conflict belongs to the parties, so the mediators must be willing to take the responsibility for preserving mediation as a unique process, as it was when they started.

Even though, naturally, mediation cannot save the world , an approach to conflicts in which one recognises the needs both of the individual and of society and the essential connection between them - in both major and minor conflicts - is a necessary development. The reflexive model thereby takes a longer view and has a sustainable perspective.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Chapter 1. Conflict mediation with a reflexive approach an introduction
Chapter 2. Underlying values and assumptions

Part 1. Key concepts for mediation
Chapter 3. An overview
Chapter 4. Conflicts and their escalation
Chapter 5. Truth, dialogue and culture
Chapter 6 Active listening and movement in communication
Chapter 7. Negotiation
Chapter 8. Voluntariness and confidentiality
Chapter 10. Power and justice
Chapter 11. Reconciliation
Chapter 12. Mediation in international conflicts and the link between major and minor conflicts .
Chapter 13. Ethics and liability

Part 2. A practical step by step description of mediation
Chapter 14. Before the meeting
Chapter 15. Stage 1: Opening - The first joint meeting
Chapter 16. Stage 2: The submissions of the parties and dialogue
Chapter 17. Stage 3: Defining the problem areas and setting the agenda
Chapter 18. Stage 4: Generating possible solutions
Chapter 19. Stage 5: Negotiating the agreement
Chapter 20. Stage 6: The agreement must be checked and approved
Chapter 21. After the meeting
Chapter 22. The parties do not keep to the agreement
Chapter 23. Problematic mediations
Chapter 24. Lawyers and other professional advisers in mediations

Postscript. Mediation in the Nordic countries - past, present and future
Annexes
Litterature
Index
Figures