ACResolution Magazine

Beyond Mediation Toward Peacemaking

By Forrest S. Mosten*

When I opened my mediation practice in 1979, I was something of a pioneer. My storefront office was located between a pet shop and a beauty salon, within walking distance of the Los Angeles International Airport—not exactly the unsettled prairie. But I felt like a pioneer because I was doing something new and innovative. My mediator colleagues and I dreamed of the day when mediation would be as well-known and used by the public as the courthouse or the lawyer consultation. We dreamed that mediation would be in every corner of our society and would model an interdisciplinary and consumer-oriented approach. That hasn’t quite happened, but mediation is broadly accepted now, and what was once innovative, even radical, is now mainstream.

For almost thirty-five years I have been lucky enough to work in a job I love, one that has made me get up every morning eager to get to the office. The work is intellectually challenging, and it helps people and makes a difference to their lives. I have seen an enormous expansion in the number of skilled mediation practitioners, and I am gratified to have trained many of them.

I still believe strongly in the value of mediation. But I think there’s a need for further innovation in what we do. Specifically, I think we need to develop a practice of peacemaking that augments our mediation work. Peacemaking differs from mediation in its impact on the people we serve and on us as conflict resolution professionals.

Mediation is a process. It may look very different in a variety
of settings. Mediations that take place in a courthouse with
mandatory participation are different from mediations that take
place by condominium homeowners' associations, between gang
members and police at a local park, or among family members
or business partners in their
homes or offices. The purposes
of mediation range from clearing
judges' calendars, to blowing off
steam between employers and
staff, to attempting to clarify and
resolve public policy issues. But all
mediations are fundamentally a process, with a beginning and an
end.

Peacemaking is not a process but a set of values, personal attributes, goals and behaviors that guide our work. Many mediators are peacemakers; many are not. Many peacemakers are mediators; others have very different roles, many of which are not neutral. Peacemakers can be litigators, teachers, prisoners, gang members or combat soldiers.

Peacemaking means creating a sense of peace and mindfulness within our own lives and in our work by harnessing our core values and best personal attributes. It means making a commitment, and using our skills, to impact the colleagues and institutions with which we work as well as those in our wider professional communities and beyond. It means devoting our mediation efforts to the improvement and repair of the parties’ individual lives, repair of their relationships, and prevention of future conflict.