How Norms Matter in Mediation: An Introduction

Abstract

International mediators are often tasked to promote liberal norms. However, dilemmas created in diffusing these norms, influenced by the mediators' interaction with the conflict parties and a decline of the liberal international order, have fueled debates about how norms are diffused through mediation, whether mediators should and can promote norms, and what norms they promote. The IR literature provides rich theoretical frameworks on norms, which could help navigate these questions. Yet, mediation scholars have not systematically integrated ideational aspects in their analyses. This Special Issue fills this gap by providing the first comprehensive analysis of how norms matter in mediation. It thereby not only shares novel analytical insights on norms in mediation, but also enriches the conceptualizations of three central notions in the norms literature: the norm diffusion process, the agency of actors, and the nature of the diffused norms.

Peacemaking in a shifting world order: A macro-level analysis of UN mediation in Syria

“…Such a liberal approach to mediation is based on the belief that democracy is indispensable for sustainable peace and manifests itself in the attempt to broker a peace agreement that foresees a democratic transition. 68 Peace agreements signed under UN auspices in Angola (1991), Cambodia 59 Paris, 'The geopolitics of peace operations', p. 502. 60 (1991), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (2002/03), for instance, foresaw elections and a democratic transition aiming at changing states and societies according to liberal values.…”

Toward a Normative Turn in Track Two Diplomacy? A Review of the Literature

“…Conflict resolution literature, in particular scholarship on mediation and peacemaking, is experiencing a “normative turn” (Hellmüller, Palmiano Federer, and Zeller 2015; Hellmüller, Pring, and Richmond 2020). It has begun to focus on the increasing normative mandates and parameters set out for mediators and the impact they have on the conduct and outcome of peace processes.…”

“…These modalities reflect a large paradigm shift in conflict resolution literature in which Track Two has become more professionalized, more dynamic, and more normative (Hellmüller, Palmiano Federer, and Zeller 2015; Turner and Wählisch 2021) as mounting empirical evidence points to the benefits of civil society inclusion (Nilsson 2012; Krause, Krause, and Bränfors 2018). Based on recent calls for Track Two scholars to look at how more inclusive peacemaking affects Track Two (Çuhadar and Paffenholz 2019; Gamaghelyan 2020; Jones 2020), this article asks how paradigm shifts, in particular this recent “normative turn” toward inclusivity in conflict resolution (Donais and McCandless 2017; Hellmüller, Pring, and Richmond 2020), are reflected in Track Two scholarship. Aside from a few notable exceptions focusing on the strong regional normative frameworks in the Asia Pacific region (Job 2003; Capie 2010; Acharya 2014), the impact of the inclusivity norm in Track Two literature has not been examined systematically, and there is a need to take stock of these new developments.…”

Why do people give to their governments? Lab‐in‐the‐field evidence on the role of norms, social information, and political support

“…We are interested in how perceived social norms (beliefs about the average donation of others), descriptive social information (the real information provided regarding the average donation of their reference group), and political support and quality of government affect giving to the government. Our research is informed by literature on political behavior, norms, and experiments on donations to charities and government (Cialdini et al, 1990;Bicchieri, 2005;Li et al, 2011Li et al, , 2015Hellmüller et al, 2020;Ozdemir & Jacob, 2022).…”