សកលវិទ្យាល័យបញ្ញា សាស្រ្ត កម្ពជា

ុ
PAÑÑĀSĀSTRA UNIVERSITY OF CAMBODIA

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Subject: Modern Diplomacy & International Cooperation

Topic: Mediation
Wednesday, 13thst July 2022
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Submitted to Prof: Ouk Kimleng

Group II: (1). Nhoem Sokhan, (2). Heang Sotheareak, (3). Heng Hun,
(4). Try Somaly, (5). Eang Socheata
 Contents:
I. Introduction “The definition of mediation”.
II. Different Mediators and Different Motives
III. Multiparty Mediation
IV. The Ideal mediator
V. The Ripe Moment (perfect timing)
VI. Conclusion or Summary
VII. Reference

I. Introduction “The definition of mediation”.

Mediation has been involved in human life since the life of human being along with human
conflict. It has been a part of human interaction (conflict) that count with society, culture,
and way of life (civilization). Since the old generation till recent generation, mediation is a
very useful and more likely method in term of solving the problems.

And this make researcher want to know the real history of the word “mediation” where
does it come from, the process, and the meaning of it? For mediation background, there are
many sources write about mediation, some say mediation exist since 13th century and some
believe it exist depend on the part of the world. In general, and according to some parts of
dictionary, the first records of the word mediation come from the 1300s and it comes from
the Latin verb mediāre, meaning “to be in the middle” or “to intercede.” And to be specific,
according to the research by Jakob and Thomas (2021), in the United States of America, the
word mediation exists early 20th century, in Israel (around 960B.C), in the middle East exist
from 4500-1900B.C, and in China exist from 551B.C to 479B.C. If we look back to the
sources, we cannot make sure when was the word mediation exist but what we sure of is
that the word mediation exists the same time of conflict time, it means that when the
conflict begins there will be mediation occur.

Case Study:

Mediation can make final contribution to face-saving on the part of one or both. The
country that role as important in the world in mediation is US. The conflict between Israel
and Syria US join hands uses the time nearly ten 10 years since 2000 to 2010 to help in
strategy of mediation. Arab Israel conflict in the 1970s. Mediation or mediator must have 3
characteristics in solving problem. There are personal attribution, experiences and
qualification. Cambodia, Samdach Hun Sen the prime minister of Cambodia went to
Myanmar in the half of head ASEAN shift. The meeting between the military regime
Cambodia government we can see that as the friendship meeting but prime minister Hun
Sen used the mediation in talking. Prime minister insisted the military regime to solve Aung
San Suu Kyi and other political members. Moreover, the military regime should follow the 5
consensuses that all ASEAN members put to the military regime in order to end the political
crisis. These five principles include: First, the violence must be stopped immediately and all
parties must increase tolerance. Second, start a constructive dialogue among stakeholders
to find a peaceful solution. Third, the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair will facilitate the
facilitation of the dialogue process with the assistance of the ASEAN Secretary-General.
Fourth, ASEAN will provide humanitarian assistance and fifth, special envoys and
delegations will visit Myanmar to meet with all stakeholders. It’s not easy to be a mediator
 they must be more experiences to solve the crisis. As Cambodia, prime minister Hun Sen
had experience in solving the conflict in his own country, but he didn’t have a lot of
experiences to solve the out-side problem. It’s also not the failure if we compare to US who
is the powerful country both Economic and military. US used a lot of time to mediate the
conflicts of the countries. Even though US is the big powerful, he cannot solve the or
mediate the crisis in Afghanistan recently. Cambodia prime minister is still the brave man
who dare face to face with the military regime.

What is Mediation?

Mediation is a special kind of negotiation which need a third party to involved (neutral
mediator) who assists them in the negotiation of their differences.

II. Different Mediators and Different Motives

Mediators resemble those brokers in the worlds of commerce and finance who act as
middlemen between clients in order to turn a profit. Today the nature of profit sought by
mediators still depends on who they are and what kind of dispute they are trying to
mediate, but ambassadors seeking the role for personal gain are no longer prominent
among them. First, then, who are today’s mediators? It is most useful to divide them simply
into official and unofficial categories, or into ‘track one’ and ‘track two’.

Track one

The most important mediators in international relations are states, whether acting singly or
collectively, or via the international organizations that are largely their creatures. The major
power which held a virtual monopoly over mediation until the twentieth century, generally
pursue it for one or more of the following reasons:

 To defuse crises that threaten global stability, including global economic stability, in
which they have such an important stake. For instance, recently, the United States is
trying to mediate its alliances, Japan and South Korea, aiming to bring Asian allies
together for its Cold War containment strategy, Washington facilitated the signing of
the 1965 normalization treaty between Japan and South Korea, which Tokyo claims
settled all reparations questions. However, the deal was not a legitimate redress for
victims of Japanese wartime military brothels and forced labor, as these issues had
not yet surfaced at the time. Furthermore, South Korea was ruled by the dictator
 Park Chung-hee, who pushed through the treaty to secure the Japanese capital. He
did not compensate the victims but instead used the money for economic
development. In short, the 1965 agreement was a shallow attempt at reconciliation
as economic, security, and political considerations took primacy. Both Japan and
South Korea are close allies and economic partners of the United States.

 To sustain or increase their prestige. It is to the interest of a great power or state to

procure peace between quarreling sovereigns by the authority of its mediation. This
way, the state can raise the reputation of its power properly and to make it
respected by all nations.

 In the case of conflicts between alliances or looser associations of states in which the
major powers play leading roles, to maintain their internal solidarity and pre-emt
offers of assistance from outside.

 States also mediate in international and intra state conflict under the authority of
the charters of the international organizations they have established. For example,
the United Nations, and regional bodies such the OAS and the AU.

Track Two

Mediation by private individuals and NGOs was known in the United States as ‘citizen diplomacy’
until it was christened ‘track two’ by the American diplomat Joseph Montville in 1981. Citizen
diplomacy builds individual and collective global fluency, which in turn creates economic
opportunity, contributes to peace and stability, and develops leadership skills through global
problem solving. In an era of unprecedented interconnectivity, individuals from around the world
have the ability to share information and ideas instantaneously and work together to resolve
common challenges. As contributors to a global community, every individual should understand the
positive impact they can have as citizen diplomats and be empowered to act with meaning and
purpose. Thought leaders from across the public, private, and social sectors see the value in citizen
diplomacy.

III. Multiparty Mediation

Mediation activities conducted by multiple third parties are commonly referred to as

multiparty mediation. Modern violent conflict often necessitates the participation of a wide
range of third parties, including nations, international and regional intergovernmental
organizations, and non-governmental groups. The success of the mediation process as a
 whole is greatly impacted by the links between specific third-party initiatives, according to
historical experiences with this type of “multiparty mediation” in several conflict situations.

Advantages of Multiple Mediators

Another conflict resolution method involves multiple states or IGOs helping to mediate: a
contact group or a “friends of ” group, which are “informal mini-coalitions that provide
support for resolving conflicts and implementing peace agreements”. This helps achieve a
unified international voice on the need for peaceful resolution.

Example, in the 1990–1996 peace process to end the Guatemala civil war, a group of
“friends” formed, including Colombia, Mexico, Norway, Spain, the United States, and
Venezuela, to support the peace process. They collectively persuaded the conflict parties to
negotiate toward an eventual agreement.

IV. The Ripe Moment (perfect timing)

Mediation must take place at an optimal or ripe moment. Early mediation may be
premature and late mediation may face too many obstacles. A ripe moment describes a
phase in the life cycle of the conflict where the parties feel exhausted and hurt, or where
they may not wish to countenance any further losses and are prepared to commit to a
settlement, or at least believe one to be possible.

In destructive and escalating conflicts, mediation can have any chance of success only if it
can capture a particular moment when the adversaries, for a variety of reasons, appear
most amenable to change. Timing of intervention in an intractable conflict is an issue of
crucial importance, and one that must be properly assessed by any would be mediator.

V. The Ideal mediator

A Mediator is a neutral third person who encourages those in the dispute to talk to each
other about issue.

1. The Criteria of Mediator.

The following are useful criteria for selecting a mediator:

 Personal attributes: mediators are able to quickly identify relevant information. They
ask questions to gain an understanding of both the facts of the case and of parties,
flexible in any situation of argue.

 Qualification: Objectivity and Self-controls, general education from a provider in a

relatable field of study. skills such as the ability to listen, reason, build confidence
and to devise creative solutions to problems.
 Experience: a candidate requires experience in observing and conducting mediation
either singly or with another mediator.

2. The role of A mediator

 Do not give suggestions as to what should be done.

 Do not make a decision for parties.
 Do not discover truth or establish fault.
 Do not force you to do anything.
 To make reasonable inquiries to determine any potential conflicts

3. What does the mediator do?

A mediator Aim for clear agreement between the participants as the how they will deal with
specific issues.

 Gathering information: The mediator will ask the parties open-ended questions to
get to the emotional undercurrents. The mediator may repeat back key ideas to the
parties, and will summarize often. This helps the mediator build rapport between the
parties, especially when a facilitative style is used.

 Bargaining and idea generation: The mediator may decide to hold private sessions
with both parties in order to move the negotiations along.
  Strong incentive to obtain settlement: There is support and encouragement in
terms of technical knowledge and skills to facilitate, improve and fill in all the gaps so
that the parties know their strengths and weaknesses.

 A mediator more effective influence: More powerful than the two parties who can
have a smooth compromise approach, have a contract to the parties.

 Pay attention to a conflict: listen carefully It can be fixed or floating. It can be

focused or diffused.

 Impartiality: The mediator must treat each of the parties to the conflict in the exact
same way, not to exclude them, or take sides of either party, regardless of their
personal characteristics, conflict behavior or handling mediation process.

 Confidentiality: The mediators will not disclose any information revealed during the
mediation. The sessions are not tape recorded or transcribed. At the conclusion of
the mediation, mediators destroy any notes they took during the mediation session.

VI. Conclusion or Summary

International mediation is the active search for a negotiated settlement to an international

or intrastate conflict by a third party. Mediators come in all shapes and sizes, as well as
singly and more often than not in groups. Their Ideal attributes vary chiefly with the conflict
in question and the stage of the mediation. However, all should also be perceived as
impartial while playing their role, they should also have influence relative to the parties, the
ability to devote sustained settlement. This incentive will usually be greater if one mediator
has role responsibility, not least because its prestige will be at stage. Mediators are brokers
looking for looking for profit, the lure of direct talks between the hostile parties is,
therefore, usually storing.

VII. Reference

 The Diplomat, How the US Can Mediate the Japanese-South Korea Dispute:
https://thediplomat.com/2020/12/how-the-us-can-mediate-the-japan-south-korea-
dispute/
 The Center for Citizen Diplomacy:
https://www.centerforcitizendiplomacy.org/about-us/understanding/
 Wednesday, June 1, 2022 / BY: Frederic C. Hof “I-almost-negotiated-israel-syria-
peace-heres-how-it-happened”