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This article compares two different experiences of EU engagement in mediation in Ukraine: the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Euromaidan crisis in 2013-2014. This comparison reflects two different outcomes of EU mediation practices under similar circumstances of political conflict between domestic political actors. The changing degree of collective EU authority recognized by other actors is the main driver behind varying EU mediation practices and outcomes. Authority conferred on the EU as a collective actor represents the legitimacy of its power, resources and competence to conduct mediation. However, such authority is always circumscribed by crisis-specific circumstances and volatile configurations of forces. Therefore, differing degrees of authority explain shifts in the effectiveness of EU mediation. To capture the authority of EU mediators in specific crisis situations, this article employs and interprets firsthand accounts of the experiences of actors directly involved in mediation.

The article addresses the CEFR extended set of language proficiency descriptors. The author points out that education, as well as the language, make an integral part of national culture and reflect the problems existing in society including the problems in communication and social interaction. In the early 21st century the process of communication became largely monolingual with English as the global lingua franca. The Bologna process contributed to building the European education environment based on the principle of multilinguism, which implies that representatives of different ethnic groups with different mother tongues communicate in the same language within a single social group. In 2001, in order to synchronize the national curricula, the Council of Europe adopted CEFR - Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment which presents descriptors of the six levels of language proficiency. Ten years later it became evident that the descriptors needed to be revised. While economies were converging, cultures began to diverge. Globalization made Europeans realize the value of every single ethnic culture. That led to the idea of plurolinguism which argues that an individual can communicate in a variety of languages using a variety of language forms known to them. The process of communication thus calls for mediation activities that facilitates communication if the interlocutors are unable to understand each other directly. That means that the aim of language learning changes from perfecting a certain foreign language to building plurilingual and pluricultural competences.

Indonesian basic laws such as Civil Code and Code of Civil Procedure are those legislated in the Dutch colonial era and effective in written in Dutch language as genuine text as mentioned in other parts of this paper. Therefore you need amendment of laws to reform civil litigation system including reconciliation and mediation. Indonesians understand this point and they pointed out the issue of amendments of colonial laws at policy level and the do list up Code of Civil Procedure in the National Legislation Program in the parliament with draft written already. One issue of negotiation with the Supreme Court as one of Indonesian governmental body in relation with this project is about who to be sent to training in Japan. Training in a foreign country is a very attractive kind of technical cooperation. If the Japanese side paid much attention toward selection of trainees, then the training would be treated as a mere reward before retirement by the counter part. Those who we cannot expect a good performance or those who cannot make impact upon their bureaucracy might by chance participate the training.

This paper examines the conditions under which warring partieswill accept an outside party's offer to mediate. Specifically, weexplore variation in the incentives for accepting third-party offersin interstate conflicts as compared to civil wars. We argue thatsince mediation in civil wars transfers legitimacy to the non-stateactor and can generate a precedent of exceptions to the norm ofsovereignty, the political cost associated with accepting internationalmediation will be substantially higher in civil warscompared to international conflicts. States should therefore onlyaccept mediation in the most serious disputes, or when the costs oflegitimizing an opponent are outweighed by the benefits of conflictresolution. Building on this theoretical reasoning, the paperanalyzes the implications of differences in incentive structuresbetween inter- and intrastate conflicts for offer and acceptance ofmediation. We find an empirical discrepancy between interstateand civil wars in regard to demand-side (acceptance) of mediation,and to a somewhat lesser extent the supply-side (offer) ofinternational mediation. In line with our argument, we find thatthe historical ties between the potential intermediary and at leastone of the disputants play different roles in regard to acceptance ofmediation in interstate compared to civil wars. This is important totake into consideration in the emerging debate on mediation bias. (International Interactions/ FUB)

This dissertation examines why the Vatican as a global religious organization and the smallest state in the world is able to successfully mediate some difficult and intractable conflicts while it fails to do so in other cases. Drawing from the New Liberalism theory in International Relations, the mediation theory and the literature on the Vatican as a player in world affairs, it suggests the important role of the Vatican's institutions at both the global and local level, besides its spiritual and moral leverage. The method, which combines a longitudinal analysis, a process tracing procedure and a comparative analysis, is used to examine multiple cases (N-cases) as well as tests the hypotheses on three particular cases in which the Vatican intervened as an official mediator or not: (1) the Beagle Channel dispute between Argentina and Chile solved in 1984; (2) the U.S. - Cuba long confrontation which resulted with a diplomatic deal in 2014, and (3) the Ecuador - Peru conflict which ended in 1998. The findings show in particular, (1) the crucial role of a third party in the mediation structure, (2) the importance of the religious factor, namely the Catholic identity expressed in the Church-State relationship which shapes the relationship between the mediator and the disputants, (3) the decisive role of the local church in the Vatican's whole diplomatic structure, a fact not always recognized. By and large, the study contributes to explain the influence of transnational religious organizations such as the Vatican in international affairs through the lens of their foreign policy and diplomacy which are important areas that has received little attention from scholars.

Introduction : gendered identities and political communication /Angelia Wagner and Joanna Everitt --Candidates' self-presentation strategies : filling in the gaps /Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant --Competing masculinities and political campaigns /Jerald Sabin and Kyle Kirkup --Not a taboo topic? Talking about family on the campaign trail /Angelia Wagner --Processes of differentiation in the 2014 Toronto mayoral race /Bailey Gerrits and Randy Besco --Breaking the concrete ceiling : media portrayals of racialized women in politics /Erin Tolley --May the best man win : masculinity in Canadian political humour /Daisy Raphael --Examining mediation of female and LGBTQ-identifying candidates /Karalena McLean in collaboration with Angelia Wagner and Joanna Everitt --Word and deeds : social movement actors' assessments of allied politicians /Elise Maiolino --She's too tough and he's too soft : measuring how gendered news frames affect voters' evaluation of party leaders /Catherine Lemarier-Saulnier and Thierry Giasson --Gender and candidate communication : is there a "double bind"? /Elisabeth Gidengil, Delia Dumitrescu, and Dietlind Stolle --Exploring viewer reactions to media coverage of female politicians /Joanna Everitt, Lisa Best, and Derek Gaudet --Conclusion : the complexity of gendered identities in Canadian politics /Elisabeth Gidengil.

The efforts of 125 community mediators in the People's Republic of China were investigated via interviews on 2 mediations each -- 1 in a community, & 1 in a family dispute -- indicating the frequency with which they used 33 mediation techniques. In family cases, mediators relied more heavily on the techniques of separating the parties, getting assistance from third parties, calling for empathy, stating the other side's point of view, & utilizing logic. In family cases, 3 distinct strategies were found -- separate, analyze together, & criticize; in community mediations, only 2 were found -- reason together & criticize. 5 Tables, 30 References. Adapted from the source document.

Formal and informal justice -- Assessing informal justice -- Mediation in the informal/formal justice complex -- Restorative justice in the informal/formal justice complex -- Reparations in the informal/formal justice complex -- Informal justice counterpublics

Rußland ist es im Zusammenhang mit dem Waffenstillstandsabkommen für Nagorny Karabach in Moskau vom 16. Mai 1994 gelungen, die KSZE als Vermittlerin im Friedensprozeß in dieser Region politisch zu neutralisieren und den eigenen Anspruch auf das Monopol bezüglich friedenserhaltender Maßnahmen auf dem Territorium der früheren UdSSR zu bekräftigen. Der Beitrag schildert die russischen diplomatischen Aktivitäten zur Herbeiführung eines Friedens in Nagorny Karabach im ersten Halbjahr 1994, geht auf die parallele Tätigkeit der Minsker Gruppe der KSZE ein und beschreibt die Reaktionen in Armenien und Aserbeidschan auf die Friedensinitiativen Rußlands und der KSZE. (BIOst-Mrk)