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Mediation roles for large small countries

In 2011 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly endorsed the notion of mediation, already noted in the Charter (UN Charter n.d., art VI.33), as a primary means of settling disputes; in 2005 the Millennium Summit included emphasis on mediation as one of the ways of preventing conflict escalation, and the Mediation Support Unit was established to enhance the practice. In 2012, the Secretary-General issued a report on Strengthening the role of mediation in the peaceful settlement of disputes, conflict prevention and resolution (UN 2012a), and in September, the UN issued a helpful Guidance for effective mediation (UN 2012b) that summarized in eight points the best practices that scholars and practitioners have developed since the founding of the UN. It is therefore timely, if always appropriate, to take stock of the dynamics of mediation. Peacemaking on the international playground is not a role for everyone, anytime, anywhere. Before addressing the question of the appropriate role for particular actors (the Who question), a review of the What, Why, When and How questions is appropriate. It is generally recognized that parties in a conflict need help, in one way or another. While such help may be needed to enable one party to win, it may then become equally necessary for help to prevent one side from winning, with the result that help ends up meaning assistance to provide an outcome acceptable to the conflicting parties. Thus, third-party roles can mean many things, according to the evolution of the conflict and the interests of the intervener. The concern here is with that part of the spectrum of roles outside of invasive intervention to eliminate one of the parties, and including all other roles designed to provide a solution for both parties. These roles will be brought