Envoy Envy? Competition in African Mediation Processes and Ways to Overcome It
In: International NegotiationSearch for other papers by David Lanz in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
This article seeks to make sense of the dynamics of competition in African mediation processes and to outline approaches for effective cooperation between mediators. To this end, it analyzes four cases of recent peace processes: Sudan (1994–2005), Kenya (2008), Madagascar (2009–2013) and South Sudan (2013–2015). The article identifies four driving forces of competition among mediators: clashing interests of states involved in mediation, overlapping mediation mandates, incompatible norms guiding conflict resolution, and mediators’ lack of performance. These factors risk undermining peace processes unless the involved mediators and guarantors take active steps to mitigate the negative effects of competition. This can be done through ‘hierarchical coordination,’ where a recognized authority takes the lead and allocates roles to other actors, or through ‘collaborative cooperation,’ where partners have unity of purpose and decide on a division of labor based on comparative strengths.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Awolich, Abraham (2015). The Mediation Pendulum and the Challenges that Underlie the Peace Implementation in South Sudan. Policy Brief. Juba: Sudd Institute.
-
Bercovitch, Jacob (2009). “Mediation and Conflict Resolution,” in Jacob Bercovitch, Victor Kremenyuk and William I. Zartman, editors, The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Resolution. London: SAGE.
-
Böhmelt, Tobias (2011). “Disaggregating Mediations: The Impact of Multiparty Mediation.” British Journal of Political Science, 41, 4: 859–881.
-
Buchanan, Cate (2020). “Introduction: Pioneering Peace Pathways,” in C. Buchanan, editor, Pioneering Peace Pathways. London: Conciliation Resources.
-
Byrne, Sean J. (2006). “The Role of External Ethnoguarantors and Primary Mediators in Cyprus and Northern Ireland.” Conflict Resolution Quarterly 24, 2: 149–172.
-
Call, Charles (2012). UN Mediation and the Politics of Transition After Constitutional Crises. New York: International Peace Institute.
-
Cawthra, Gawin (2010). The Role of SADC in Managing Political Crisis and Conflict. FES Peace and Security Series. Maputo: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
-
Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (2009). The Prisoner of Peace: An Interview with Kofi A. Annan. Geneva: HD Centre.
-
Crocker, Chester, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall (2015). “The Shifting Sands of Peacemaking: Challenges of Multiparty Mediation.” International Negotiation 20, 3: 363–388.
-
Crocker, Chester, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall (2018). International Negotiation and Mediation in Violent Conflicts: The Changing Context of Peacemaking. Milton Park: Routledge.
-
Duursma, Allard (2017). “Partnering to Make Peace: The Effectiveness of Joint African and Non-African Mediation Efforts.” International Peacekeeping 24, 4: 590–615.
-
El-Affendi, Abdelwahab (2001). “The Impasse in the IGAD Peace Process for Sudan: The Limits of Regional Peacemaking.” African Affairs 100, 401: 581–599.
-
Engel, Ulf and João Gomes Porto (2013). “Introduction,” in U. Engel and J. Gomes Porto, editors, Towards an African Peace and Security Regime. Milton Park: Routledge.
-
George, Alexander and Andrew Bennett (2005). Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
-
Griffiths, Martin and Teresa Whitfield (2010). Mediation 10 Years On: Challenges and Opportunities for Peacemaking. Geneva: HD Centre.
-
Hellmüller, Sara (2020). “Inclusion and Performance as Sources of Legitimacy – the UN Mediation on Syria,” in Oliver Richmond and Birte Vogel, editors, Local Legitimacy and International Peace Interventions. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
-
Hellmüller, Sara, Jamie Pring and Oliver Richmond (2020). “How Norms Matter in Mediation: An Introduction.” Swiss Political Science Review 26, 4: 345–363.
-
Human Security Report Project (2011). Human Security Report 2009/2010: The Causes of Peace and the Shrinking Costs of War. New York: Oxford University Press.
-
Ibrahim Abdi, Dekha and Simon J. Mason (2019). Mediation and Governance in Fragile Contexts: Small Steps to Peace. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
-
Iji, Tetsuro (2005). “Cooperation, Coordination and Complementarity in International Peacemaking: The Tajikistan Experience.” International Peacekeeping 12, 2: 189–204.
-
Iji, Tetsuro (2017). “The UN as an International Mediator: From the Post–Cold War Era to the Twenty-First Century.” Global Governance 23, 1: 83–100.
-
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (2019). Lessons for IGAD Mediation Arising from the Peace Talks in South Sudan, 2013–2015. Djibouti: IGAD Secretariat.
-
International Crisis Group (2002). God, Oil and Country: Changing the Logic of War in Sudan. Africa Report 39. Brussels: Crisis Group.
-
International Crisis Group (2010). Madagascar: Sortir du cycle de crises. Africa Report 156. Brussels: Crisis Group.
-
Johnson, Hilde (2011). Waging Peace: The Inside Story of the Negotiations that Ended Africa’s Longest Civil War. Brighton: Sussex University Press.
-
Kraus, Anne Isabel, et al. (2019). “Dilemmas and Trade-Offs in Peacemaking: A Framework for Navigating Difficult Decisions.” Politics and Governance 7, 4: 331–342.
-
Lanz, David and Rachel Gasser (2013). A Crowded Field: Competition and Coordination in International Peace Mediation. Mediation Arguments series. Pretoria: Centre for Mediation in Africa, University of Pretoria.
-
Lanz, David, Jamie Pring, Corinne von Burg and Mathias Zeller (2018). Understanding Mediation Support Structures. Policy report. Bern: swisspeace.
-
Lindenmayer, Elisabeth and Josie Lianna Kaye (2009). A Choice for Peace? The Story of Forty-One Days of Mediation in Kenya. New York: International Peace Institute.
-
Nathan, Laurie (2017). “Marching Orders: Exploring the Mediation Mandate.” African Security 10, 3–4: 155–175.
-
Office of the AU Panel of Eminent African Personalities (2014). Back from the Brink: The 2008 Mediation Process and Reforms in Kenya. Addis Ababa: African Union.
-
Paris, Roland (2009). “Understanding the ‘Coordination Problem’ in Postwar Statebuilding,” in Roland Paris and Timothy Sisk, editors, The Dilemmas of Statebuilding: Confronting the Contradictions of Postwar Peace Operations. London: Routledge.
-
Pring, Jamie (2017). “Including or Excluding Civil Society? The Role of the Mediation Mandate for South Sudan (2013–2015) and Zimbabwe (2008–2009).” African Security 10, 3–4, 223–238.
-
Pring, Jamie and Julia Palmiano Federer (2020). “The Normative Agency of Regional Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations in International Peace Mediation.” Swiss Political Science Review 26, 4: 429–448.
-
Spitka, Timea (2018). “Mediating among Mediators: Building a Consensus in Multilateral Interventions.” International Negotiation 23, 1: 125–154.
-
Svensson, Isak (2011). “Crowded with Conciliators: Exploring Multiparty Mediation in Civil Wars,” in Olivier Urbain, editor, Risk and Uncertainty: Understanding and Dialogue in the 21st Century. New York: Routledge.
-
Svensson, Isak (2015). International Mediation Bias and Peacemaking: Taking Sides in Civil Wars. Milton Park: Routledge.
-
United Nations (2009). Report of the Secretary-General on Enhancing Mediation and its Support Activities. UN Doc S/2009/189.
-
United Nations (2012). United Nations Guidance for Effective Mediation. New York: UN.
-
Vertin, Zach (2018). A Poisoned Well: Lessons in Mediation from South Sudan’s Troubled Peace Process. New York: International Peace Institute.
-
Vuković, Siniša (2012). “Coping with Complexity: Analyzing Cooperation and Coordination in Multiparty Mediation Processes.” International Negotiation 17, 2: 265–293.
-
Vuković, Siniša (2015). International Multiparty Mediation and Conflict Management: Challenges of Cooperation and Coordination. Milton Park: Routledge.
-
Vuković, Siniša (2019). “International Multiparty Mediation: Prospects for a Coordinated Effort.” Global Policy 10, S2: 76–83.
-
Whitfield, Teresa (2007). Friends Indeed? The United Nations, Groups of Friends, and the Resolution of Conflict. Washington DC: USIP Press.
-
Williams, Paul D. (2009). “The ‘Responsibility to Protect’, Norm Localisation, and African International Society.” Global Responsibility to Protect 1, 3: 392–416.
-
Witt, Antonia (2017). “Mandate Impossible: Mediation and the Return to Constitutional Order in Madagascar (2009–2013).” African Security 10, 3–4: 205–222.
-
Zartman, I. William (2010). “Conflict Management as Cooperation,” in I. William Zartman and Saadia Touval, editors, International Cooperation: The Extensions and Limits of International Multilateralism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1485 | 330 | 45 |
| Full Text Views | 135 | 13 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 239 | 28 | 0 |
Envoy Envy? Competition in African Mediation Processes and Ways to Overcome It
In: International NegotiationSearch for other papers by David Lanz in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This article seeks to make sense of the dynamics of competition in African mediation processes and to outline approaches for effective cooperation between mediators. To this end, it analyzes four cases of recent peace processes: Sudan (1994–2005), Kenya (2008), Madagascar (2009–2013) and South Sudan (2013–2015). The article identifies four driving forces of competition among mediators: clashing interests of states involved in mediation, overlapping mediation mandates, incompatible norms guiding conflict resolution, and mediators’ lack of performance. These factors risk undermining peace processes unless the involved mediators and guarantors take active steps to mitigate the negative effects of competition. This can be done through ‘hierarchical coordination,’ where a recognized authority takes the lead and allocates roles to other actors, or through ‘collaborative cooperation,’ where partners have unity of purpose and decide on a division of labor based on comparative strengths.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1485 | 330 | 45 |
| Full Text Views | 135 | 13 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 239 | 28 | 0 |