Taming Intractable Conflicts: Mediation in the Hardest Cases

The authors of this provocative volume argue that intractable conflicts are not impervious to effective mediation—if the mediator knows what to do and when to do it. Written from the mediator’s point of view, Taming Intractable Conflicts lays out the steps involved in tackling the most stubborn of conflicts. It first puts mediation in a larger context, exploring why mediators choose or decline to become involved, what happens when they get involved for the wrong reasons, and the impact of the mediator’s institutional and political environment. It then discusses best mediation tradecraft at different stages: at the beginning of the engagement, when the going gets very rough, during the settlement negotiations, and in the postsettlement implementation stage.

Chester A. Crocker is the James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies at Georgetown University and chairman of the Institute’s board of directors. Fen Osler Hampson is director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. Pamela Aall is director of the Education Program at the Institute. They jointly edited three earlier volumes: Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict, Herding Cats: Multiparty Mediation in a Complex World, and Managing Global Chaos: Sources of and Responses to International Conflict.