US policy and the Kashmir dispute: prospects for resolution

Washington refuses to chart a roadmap for peace in Kashmir. Although the chances for resolving the dispute are low, the probability of failure should not inhibit the US government from pursuing a more proactive role in resolving the conflict. The United States is the “sole pole” in a unipolar international system; regarding the world's thorniest disputes, it either leads or bears the brunt of its own passivity. Leadership requires more than devising policies that are guaranteed to work; it also involves taking risks on bold initiatives that may fail, but whose unlikely success would produce greater stability in global affairs. This article examines the admittedly slim prospects for settling the Kashmir dispute and the role Washington might play in such a process. It argues that only one conflict-resolution option seems even remotely viable: a phased conversion of the existing Kashmiri Line of Control into an internationally recognized Indo-Pakistani border.     

Techniques and sequences in mediation strategies: A proposed model for research

Most studies of mediation strategy focus on the how and what of the process, but fail to take into consideration when particular techniques are used. To improve our understanding of mediation strategies in general, the authors of this article propose a new methodological approach that includes an analysis of the particular techniques that are used as well as the order of their use.he is studying mediation in the Pacific Rim and international peacekeeping. John B. Stark, who is a doctoral student at the University of Missouri, plays chess and studies trust in organizations.     

Designing a dispute resolution system for water policy and management

Conclusions The Montana state water planning process represents one example of how a government agency with decision-making responsibilities can design and facilitate a dispute resolution system. Dispute resolution systems can increase the participation of all affected interests in developing and implementing public policy. This, in turn, should increase their ownership in the final decision and in seeing that it is implemented. A dispute resolution system may not decrease the volume of conflicts, per se, but it should reduce the high costs of conflict and realize the benefits of conflict more efficiently.The use of dispute resolution systems to address complex, multi-party public policy issues also provides other benefits, including the consideration of diverse perspectives and interests; the cooperative and systematic analysis of technical and scientific information; the formation of more pragmatic, equitable, and mutually acceptable goals and alternatives; and the improvement of relationships among diverse, often competing interests, government agencies, and policymakers. Matthew McKinney is a policy analyst and facilitator with the State of Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, 1520 East Sixth Avenue, Helena, Mont. 59620.An earlier version of this article was presented at a conference titled Innovation in Western Water Law and Management, held at the Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado School of Law, 5–7 June, 1991.     

Class conflict,state terrorism and the Pakistani military: the Okara Military Farms dispute

In their dispute with their tenants, in what is known as the Okara Military Farms dispute, army landlords in the Punjab province of Pakistan resorted to state terrorism conducted by paramilitary troops, in alliance with other state agencies, in an unsuccessful attempt to break farmer resistance to attempts to remove their security of tenure. Analysis of the dispute provides strong support for the argument that state violence can, in some instances, be categorised as a specific form of terrorism. The article, therefore, aims to contribute to the growing literature on state terrorism which has been neglected as a legitimate and important topic for scholarly inquiry.     

Measuring both the art and science of mediation

Conclusion An art is best observed, and the effort to specify the criteria for watching art is a worthy enterprise. Like all art criticism, however, it is not clear to me that we will always have convergence in our evaluations. If theInterim Guidelines are tested in more settings (and subjected to test validation studies) we will learn more about whether it is possible to create a science of evaluation in this field.With all my reservations, I still applaud the effort to create standards for evaluation, based on actual performance of the task. I hope there will be further opportunity to test and refine these performance standards so that they may be used in a professionally responsible way to facilitate good screening, training, and evaluation of mediators in a wide variety of settings. Carrie Menkel-Meadow is Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90024-1476.     

Overcoming the weight of history: 'Getting to yes' in the Peru-Ecuador border dispute

This article presents and analyzes the elements of the Western Hemisphere's longest standing boundary dispute and the crucial role of the region's oldest multilateral conflict resolution mechanism in working out an historic agreement in October 1998. Other factors in combination were also critical for success: an existing international legal framework, multilevel bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, decisive leadership and statecraft, and public diplomacy. The analysis suggests that the final settlement is a significant milestone in international diplomacy, demonstrating that even the most deeply ingrained differences between states can be resolved by the patient and persistent efforts of all parties involved.     

Decline and fall of the Versailles settlement

W.N. Medlicott, Douglas Dakin and M.E. Lambert (eds.), Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, First Series, Volume XX. German Reparation and Allied Military Control 1922. Russia, March 1921-December 1922 (London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1976). 970 + lxx pp. £23. ISBN 0-11-591553-2

W.N. Medlicott and Douglas Dakin (eds.), assisted by Gillian Bennett, Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, First Series, Volume XXII. Central Europe and the Balkans 1921. Albania 1921-2 (London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1980). 885 + cxii pp. £45. ISBN 0-11-591555-9

David S. Newhall, Clemenceau. A Life at War (The Edwin Meilen Press: Lampeter, 1991). 682 + xv pp. £35.95. ISBN 0-88946-785-4

J. Calvitt Clarke III, Russia and Italy against Hitler. The Bolshevik-Fascist Rapprochement of the 1930s (Contributions to the Study of World History No. 21, Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut, 1991). 218 + xvii pp. £59.95. ISBN 0-313-27468-1

David Dutton, Simon. A political biography of Sir John Simon (Aurum Press, 1992). 364 + viii pp. £25. ISBN 1-85410-204-4

Peter Neville, Neville Chamberlain. A study in failure? (Personalities and Power Series, Hodder and Stoughton, 1992). £5. ISBN 0-340-56308-7     

Making the best of a difficult situation: Divorce processes and family mediation

Book reviewed in this article:
Kenneth Kressel , The Process of Divorce
John M. Haynes , Divorce Mediation
John Allen Lemmon , Family Mediation Practice     

Disputants' perspectives on the differences between mediation and arbitration

Conclusion Our study of grievance mediation in the coal industry expands existing knowledge about mediation in three important respects. First, we have shown that mediation can be as successful in resolving disputes when it is involuntary as when it is voluntary. Second, disputants with experience in both mediation and arbitration substantially prefer mediation to arbitration. Third, by combining the second conclusion with the results of other studies that show mediation is preferred over court adjudication, we suggest that mediation is generally preferred to adjudication, regardless of the particular type of adjudication—arbitration or court. Stephen B. Goldberg is Professor of Law at Northwestern University Law School, 357 East Chicago Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60610.Jeanne M. Brett is DeWitt W. Buchanan, Jr. Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organizations at the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. 60208.This article is based in part upon research reported in Brett and Goldberg, 1983.