Determinants of mediation success in post-conflict Bosnia: a focused comparison

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10357718.2015.1024200

The main goal of our study is to look at factors determining mediation success in post-conflict environments. More specifically, we focus on the level of involvement of the mediator in a post conflict setting and hypothesize that facilitative mediation strategies should fare better in such environments. To test our hypothesis, we employ a most similar systems design, and compare the European Union/United States and Turkish mediation efforts in Bosnia Herzegovina, both of which started in October 2009. Our analysis of these two cases suggests that Turkey’s relational mediation strategy delivered concrete outcomes in post-Dayton Bosnia compared to the structural intervention style adopted by the European Union/United States. We conclude that relational mediation strategy facilitates the achievement of constructive solutions by helping third parties to make broader assessment of the conflict situation, and by offering flexible options in issue selection and process design. and by offering flexible options in issue selection and process design.