Tag: Peacebuilding

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Mediation Perspectives: Culturally Oriented Mediation

 

Image courtesy of Alamy.

Mediation Perspectives is a regular series of blog contributions by the CSS Mediation Support Team and occasional guest authors.

Culture becomes the elephant in the room when people do not acknowledge how implicit values shape conflict. “Truth” appears in multiple forms depending on which lenses we are using to view the world. This blog is based on a publication called “Inviting the Elephant into the Room: Culturally Oriented Mediation and Peace Practice”, reflecting insights from the work of UK mediator, Dr Zaza Elsheikh, who places culture and religion at the center of her practice. The blog explores a case from Zaza’s experience and ends with three insights from Zaza’s community mediation, which I believe have useful applications for the peace mediation field, namely regarding power, entry points and mediation success.

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Mediation Perspectives: MSN Commentary on the UN Guidance on Mediation of Ceasefires

Image courtesy of the National Library of Scotland / Flickr, Open air cookery near Miraumont-le-Grand, Western Front, during World War I.

Mediation Perspectives is a regular series of blog contributions by the CSS Mediation Support Team and occasional guest authors.

In this blog, we discuss what ceasefires are and how they related to peace mediation. The Mediation Support Network (MSN) met online on the 16th of February 2023 to discuss the recently published UN DPPA “Guidance on Mediation of Ceasefires”. After reflecting on key points from the Guidance, the MSN members grappled with the questions: what insights and challenges do MSN members face in their work related to ceasefires? What are the gaps and ideas that might carry the Guidance forward?

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Mediation Perspectives: MSN Commentary on the UN Practice Note on Climate Change and Peace Processes

Image courtesy of Joanne Francis / Unsplash

Mediation Perspectives is a regular series of blog contributions by the CSS Mediation Support Team and occasional guest authors.

In this blog, we discuss the implications of climate change for peace mediation. Members of the Mediation Support Network (MSN) met recently to discuss a UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Practice Note on “The Implications of Climate Change for Mediation and Peace Processes”.

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CSS Mediation Perspectives: Settling an Armed Conflict with a Sworn Enemy

Image courtesy of Flickr. President Santos signing the peace agreement with the FARC on 26 September 2016. Less than a week later, the deal was rejected in a plebiscite.

Mediation Perspectives is a regular series of blog contributions by the CSS Mediation Support Team and occasional guest authors.

Intrastate conflicts are notoriously difficult to settle. In many regions of the world, from Afghanistan and Myanmar to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, citizens have grown up during war, only to see their children or even grandchildren born into continued conflict. That is not to say that long-standing enemies never manage to reach a negotiated settlement. In Colombia, after more than half a century of fighting, the government reached a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC) in 2016. But implementation is slow, and the state remains at war with the country’s last guerrilla organization, the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN).

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Mediation Perspectives: The Contested Power of Religious Narratives in Conflict

Image courtesy of Wikicommons. The standoff between armed members of the Branch Davidian group and the FBI in Waco, Texas, descends into violence.

Mediation Perspectives is a regular series of blog contributions by the CSS Mediation Support Team and occasional guest authors.

To what extent do religious narratives shape conflict behavior? Many scholars agree that narratives are important: People get angry when they perceive injustice, they reach out for stories to help explain why that injustice exists, and then some of those stories propose or rationalize violence as a solution to the injustice. For this reason, peacebuilders should seek to understand religious narratives as possible framings of a given context of conflict.

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