Herding Cats: Multiparty Mediation in a Complex World

Herding Cats offers
o in-depth studies of multiparty mediation
o behind-the-scenes accounts of mediators
o conceptual frameworks
o practicable lessons

An illustrious cast of practitioners here describe their personal experiences in working to bring peace in significant conflicts across four continents. In each case, mediation was a multiparty effort, involving a range of actors working simultaneously or sequentially.

Herding Cats was developed by the same editors who were responsible for USIP Press's highly successful 1996 publication MANAGING GLOBAL CHAOS and is intended as a follow-on to that book. The editors have framed the volume with discussions that link the practitioner cases to the scholarly literature on mediation, thereby situating the case studies in terms of theory while also drawing on lessons for both scholars and practitioners that can help guide future endeavors.

Chester A. Crocker is the James R. Schlesinger professor of strategic studies at Georgetown University. Fen Osler Hampson is a professor of international affairs at Carleton University. Pamela Aall is director of the Education Program at the Institute.