1st Edition

Mediation in the Asia-Pacific Region Transforming Conflicts and Building Peace

Edited By Dale Bagshaw, Elisabeth Porter Copyright 2009
    240 Pages
    by Routledge

    240 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book examines mediation in connection with peacebuilding in the Asia-Pacific region, providing practical examples which either highlight the weaknesses within certain mediation approaches or demonstrate best-practice.

    The authors explore the extent to which current ideas and practices of mediation in the Asia-Pacific region are dominated by Western understandings and critically challenge the appropriateness of such thinking. Featuring a range of case studies on Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, this book has three main aims:

    • To challenge dominant Western practices and ways of thinking on mediation that currently are being imposed in the Asia-Pacific region;
    • To develop culturally-fluent and socially just mediation alternatives that build upon local, traditional or religious approaches;
    • To situate mediation within ideas and practices on peacebuilding.

    Making a unique contribution to peace and conflict studies literature by explicitly linking mediation and peacebuilding practices, this book is a vital text for students and scholars in these fields.

    List of Contributors  Foreword  Abbreviations  Introduction – Elisabeth Porter and Dale Bagshaw Part I: Reconsidering Mediation, Peacebuilding and Culture 1. Challenging Western constructs of mediation – Dale Bagshaw 2. Peacebuilding: women peaceworkers – Elisabeth Porter and Danielle Every 3. Speaking across difference: Native Title mediation and peacebuilding in Australia – Toni Bauman Part II: Building Peace in the Asia-Pacific Region: Pacific Islands 4. Mediation of public policy disputes in Fiji Islands - Graham Hassall 5. A few more arrows: strengthening mediative capacity in Vanuatu - Polly Walker and Chief Selwyn Garu 6. Creative peacebuilding: experiences from Bougainville – Alan Campbell Part III: Building Peace in the Asia-Pacific Region: Asia 7. Mediation of marital disputes in Muslim families in Malaysia – Dale Bagshaw 8. Transforming conflict and building peace in Cambodia – Damien Coghlan 9. Transforming conflict in international projects in Vietnam – Wendy Poussard 10. Listening with the ear, eye and heart: conflict transformation in China – Diane Bretherton and Han Zhaoying 11. Mediating contemporary, severe multicultural and religious conflicts in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand - Bruce Barnes and Fatahillah Abdul Syukur

    Biography

    Dale Bagshaw is Director, Centre for Peace, Conflict and Mediation, Hawke Research Institute and Program Director, postgraduate Mediation and Conflict Resolution programs in the School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia. She is the inaugural and continuing President, Asia Pacific Mediation Forum and has trained mediators worldwide. Elisabeth Porter is Head of School of International Studies at the University of South Australia. Her books include: Peacebuilding: Women in International Perspective; Feminist Perspectives on Ethics; Building Good Families; Women and Moral Identity and (as co-editor) Researching Conflict in Africa; Activating Human Rights.