Experimental research on third-party intervention in conflict: Toward some generalizations.

Abstract

Despite the ubiquity and importance of third-party intervention in conflict, surprisingly little experimental research has been conducted on the intervention process. Moreover, although this laboratory work is limited to a few dozen experiments, it is fraught with puzzling and apparently contradictory findings. The present article advances three explanatory strands, or generalizations, that wind through this experimental literature: (a) Third parties facilitate concession making without loss of face, thereby promoting more rapid and effective conflict resolution than would otherwise occur; (b) traditional third-party intervention techniques that are effective when conflict intensity is relatively low may prove to be ineffectual and even exacerbating when conflict intensity is high; (c) the parties to a conflict may view third-party intervention as an unwelcome and unwanted intrusion. To the extent that the disputants can resolve conflict of their own accord, they will.The history of third-party intervention is as old as the history of human conflict, which in turn is probably as old as the history of humankind itself. Conflict is a ubiquitous phenomenon, arising in virtually all aspects of social life. Indeed, the seeds of conflict are part of the very process of interdependence that binds people to one another, leading them to work together for common or disparate goals. Whenever conflict exists, impasses can occasionally arise. These impasses, in turn, may be resolved by the disputants themselves -through coercion, through unilateral with-Portions of this article were presented at the Uni-

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“…The i nu est igat ion of negotiation has occupied a central position in labor relations (Walton and POcKersie, 1965; Kochan, 1980) and social psychology (Rubin and Broujn, 1975; Rubin, 1980;Pruitt, 1981).…”

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“…4) Estudios de caso: Son descripciones y análisis de situaciones de mediación que se han producido. Estos estudios persiguen desarrollar teorías y ofrecer líneas generales de actuación mediante a) la descripción detallada de un caso particular de mediación internacional (Ott 1972;Rubin 1981) b) enfoques experimentales y de laboratorio (Bartunek et al 1975;Rubin 1980) para descubrir como las partes y el mediador se comportan en situaciones controladas y c) estudios sistemáticos de largo alcance que se basan en numerosos casos de mediación internacional para formular y contrastar proposiciones sobre la mediación eficiente así como para establecer las condiciones bajo las que la mediación puede funcionar mejor (Bercovitch y Rubin 1992;Touval y Zartman 1985).…”

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