Publisher's Synopsis
This volume of essays will explore the theoretical and jurisprudential bases of mediated forms of dispute resolution, from legal, anthropological, sociological, psychological and political sources. It will present on-going disputes about the field itself, including its threat to conventional litigation and justice seeking adjudication and its promise in providing more humane and tailored solutions to human problems. Essays in the book will engage with critiques of mediation, both as theorized and as practiced, by feminists, critical race theorists, social psychologists, social theorists and adjudication advocates and it will present the responses of those who see mediational modes as offering solutions to the rigid and limited ways of conventional legalistic decision making. In addition, the book will highlight some of the controversial areas of micro-practice and macro-policy, such as whether mediation should use private meetings (caucuses), engages in facilitation or evaluation, be compulsory or voluntary, offered in public settings or left to the private agreement of parties, what the ethics of mediation professionals should be, both as neutrals and as advocates. There will be selections from a variety of countries and legal systems in which mediation is currently practiced, with both cultural and historical variations.
