Wolters Kluwer Essays on Mediation: Dealing with Disputes in the 21st Century (Global Trends in Dispute Resolution, 6)

Across a range of jurisdictions, in differing legal systems, mediation is achieving ever-greater institutional and statutory force, and what not long ago was a marginal technique for dispute resolution is becoming mainstream and orthodox. But how firm a sense do we have about the social formation we call mediation? Through reflections and case histories, this distinctive collection of essays by experienced mediators from across the globe provides a clearer understanding than we have had heretofore of what mediation is and what it can offer as a practical, accessible and positive alternative in civil justice systems. The authors each address ways mediation has been or can be applied to dispute resolution in such pressing contexts as the following: enduring and intense conflicts; planning and environmental issues; conflicts arising between refugee and host communities; elder care; intercultural settings; online communication; science-based disputes; and public policy disputes. The questions raised as to access to justice, identifying unmet needs, improving the provision of services, and fostering an ongoing conversation on mediation go well beyond the confines of commercial dispute resolution and the walls of courtrooms. Through the practical experiences described, useful and insightful perspectives emerge on the practice, principles and legitimacy of mediation. These invaluable reports and reflections on the powerful resources that mediation and mediators can bring to the table will be welcomed by a diversity of legal practitioners and jurists as well as academics. About the Author Ian Macduff, Teaching Fellow, New Zealand Centre for ICT Law, School of Law, University of Auckland. Formerly Associate Professor & Director of the Dispute Resolution Initiative, School of Law, Singapore Management University. He has been a practising mediator for over thirty years, in commercial, environmental, policy, intercultural, family, online mediation and other fields. He is a member of the Independent Standards Commission of the International Mediation Institute); a trainer on the World Health Organisations multi-year Health as a Bridge to Peace programme in Sri Lanka; and a member of the IMIs Task Force on Intercultural Mediation accreditation and a Fellow of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution [http://odr.info/fellows/]. He is co-editor of Ethnic Conflict and Secessionism in South and South East Asia (Sage, 2003); contributing author of Dispute Resolution in New Zealand (OUP 1999), and of Guidelines for Family Mediation (Butterworths, 1995) and contributing author to An Asian Perspective on Mediation. E-mail: ianmacduff@mac.com Address: Box 10, 9 Byron Avenue, Takapuna 0622, Auckland, New Zealand.