Suchergebnisse

The characterization of our world as VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) is not new (Stiehm 2002), but took considerable speed in recent years to describe a need for change in meeting philosophy and decision making processes. The concept's application shifted quickly from military strategy to business management and extended rapidly to describe the planning environment of nearly all spheres of live (Mack et al 2015). Simultaneously the quintuple helix innovation model (knowledge production by university-industry-government relations plus media-and culture-based civil society plus the perspective of the natural environments) was developed (Carayannis et al 2012). This development urges a shift from traditional linear to simultaneous and synergetic thinking for problem solving. This is where togetherness has currently to ground: on a trustworthy, efficient and professionally mediated plurilogue between all affected and interested stakeholders (Caser 2014, Vasconcelos et al. 2015). The exponentially growing technical and digital development is well likely to provoke societal conflict; even civil unrest is not improbable on the long run. There is a serious danger that science will look to what is coming up with a merely scientific interest. STS-scholars and scientists must not implement plurilogues for their own research purposes and argue that – at the same time – they are serving civil societies' needs and aspirations. This paper will propose a middle way between sociotechnical imaginaries in bringing things together and the implementation and mediation of plurilogue in the "real world out there".

Multi-party mediation is transversal to almost all areas of mediation because it focuses specifically on the resolution of complex conflicts aiming at the involvement of all potentially interested parties. Furthermore, it is a means of excellence to involve all positions and interests at stake, as it seeks not only the integration of different perspectives and knowledge but also the resolution of conflicts in a phased and flexible approach. At the same time, multi-party mediation allows to perceive the existence of latent conflicts that, with adequate methodologies, can be overcome, clearing the way for joint solutions. Given the diversity of situations that can be addressed using this process (whether from family, commercial, labor, school, or environmental mediation), it is important to clarify that although there are common structuring elements, methodologies should be flexible and adapted to each case. Particularities of each case should be considered during the process design and or embraced in its course. Focusing on consensus building, multiparty mediation is thus capable of dealing with situations of imbalance of powers, insecurity in sharing opinions and perspectives, and lack of articulation, promoting safe Plurilogue spaces. Hence, multi-party mediation emerges as a conflict resolution and prevention process within a broader context of many "traditional" fields of mediation. For this paper, we have chosen an illustrative case study from the field of environmental/ administrative mediation, one of our emblematic projects – MARGov - Collaborative Governance of Marine Protected Areas. This project focussed on the Marine Park Professor Luiz Saldanha in Sesimbra, created by a top-down administrative process. Weak governance and absence of local stakeholders' participation generated conflicts over time. The Project MARGov proposed to develop a model of collaborative governance via a complex multi-party mediation process.