Why Are Subordinates Less Satisfied with Mediation? The Role of Uncertainty

This study explores the influence of hierarchical position on both mediation satisfaction and uncertainty about the mediation. As parties involved in hierarchical conflict typically behave differently and have different perceptions and experiences, we think it is most likely that hierarchical position will affect the mediation process and its outcomes. In this article, we investigate the influence of hierarchical position on both uncertainty about the mediation and satisfaction with the mediation and its potential moderating role on the relationship between uncertainty and satisfaction. To test our hypotheses, we use data from fifty real mediation cases dealing with hierarchical labor conflicts in the Netherlands. As expected, uncertainty has a stronger negative effect on subordinates' satisfaction with the mediation than it does on the supervisors who were involved in mediation. Implications for mediation theory and practice are discussed.     

The Negative Impact of Attorneys on Mediation Outcomes: A Myth or a Reality?

Mediators often do not welcome the presence of attorneys at the mediation table. Because of the apparent contradictions between both professions, many mediators believe that the presence of attorneys is prejudicial to the mediation process. Using empirical data collected from workplace mediation cases, we have explored the actual impact of the presence of attorneys. Our results indicate that the presence of an attorney does not significantly affect the outcome of a mediation, with two exceptions. First, the presence of attorneys in a mediation process reduces the parties' level of satisfaction with the mediator. Second, the presence of an attorney would appear to hinder the level of reconciliation possible between the parties.     

Coming to Terms with Separatist Insurgencies

Although insurgencies may begin their rebellions with expressed desires for outcomes unacceptable to opposing governments, the desired insurgent outcomes sometimes undergo modification, creating conditions that can make governments more amenable to external mediation. In certain separatist conflicts, the likelihood of external mediation increases when the political redefinition of the state insisted upon by the insurgents undergoes a revision, from secession to self‐determination, understood as a variant of autonomy. In the same vein, although it may not happen concurrently, insurgent movements become more amenable to external mediation if and when opposing governments revise the preferred conflict outcome from a military defeat of the insurgents to a containment of the movement. These two developments can serve as objective referents helping external parties to identify a ripe moment in the conflict and initiate mediation. But the implementation of an agreement ending separatist conflict may not occur if the government fails to submit the proposed territorial bounds of autonomy to prior review by constituents. Potential spoilers among government constituents should be identified and recruited to participate in the negotiations so that the likelihood of agreement rejection is reduced. In some states, however, the legal mechanisms and political opportunities for constituents to act as spoilers do not exist.     

Rethinking Conflict: Perspectives from the Insight Approach

In this article, the authors present the “insight approach” to conflict as an analytical and methodological framework that addresses the dynamic interactions between conflicting parties. According to the insight approach, conflict is relational, dynamic, and adaptive, generated from the responsive interpretive frameworks that parties use to construct meaning. Conflict arises as a result of parties' experience of what insight theorists call “threat‐to‐cares,” which generates defend–attack patterns of interaction between them. The authors suggest that rethinking the nature of conflict so that it is seen as an interaction embedded in meaning making enables conflict interveners to help parties gain insight into, and articulate, the values that are being generated, advanced, threatened, and realigned within the complex interactions that define us as social beings. In doing so, parties develop abilities to generate new patterns and solutions that can limit and even eliminate the experiences of threat that generate conflict between them.     

试析民初商事公断的法律性质——基于非诉讼纠纷解决的视角

ADR概念来源于美国,原是对20世纪逐步发展起来的各种诉讼外纠纷解决方式的总称,现已引申为对世界各国普遍存在的、民事诉讼制度以外的非诉讼纠纷解决方式或机制的称谓,具有代替性、选择性的特点以及纠纷解决的基本功能。民国初期的商事公断集现代和传统于一身,兼具仲裁和调解的性质特点,任何一种单一的法律性质界定都显得单薄,不能涵盖其全部,而它的这种新旧杂糅的特点都可以纳入"非诉讼纠纷解决机制"这一"模糊"概念之中。     

“当判则判”与“调判结合”——基于实务和操作层面的分析

调解优先的司法政策并不意味着调解万能,其意义在于进一步促进调解在民事诉讼中的作用,并适应社会需求,在刑事、行政领域引进协商性因素。在民事诉讼中,调解优先符合私法自治原则,当事人处分权优先于公共利益考量,除法律明确禁止或限制的情形外,调解与协商和解是当事人的权利,也是法官的义务和责任,一般不能因公共利益而否定或限制调解。我国民事诉讼法的基本原则、制度制约、当事人处分权与法院职权的结合、相应的救济机制等,可以保证调解的正当性和效益。同时,诉讼调解必然以判决作为后盾,调判结合并非选择性安排,而是司法诉讼制度的必然。从实务角度出发,准确把握调判结合的原则和尺度、规避调解风险至关重要。从长远的发展而言,调判结合仍可进一步通过制度创新实现多元功能和价值。     

试论多元化纠纷解决机制的法理特征与困境

多元化纠纷解决机制是现实社会中解决矛盾与纠纷的重要手段,承载着解决民事纠纷的重要功能。其表现在法理上的特征值得仔细研究,对其司法调解中的限度问题值得关注,尤其是当前法治中的现实困境对纠纷解决机制也产生了不可忽视的影响。     

SETTLEMENT‐FOCUSED PARENTING PLAN CONSULTATIONS: AN EVALUATIVE MEDIATION ALTERNATIVE TO CHILD CUSTODY EVALUATIONS

The divorce mediation field has recently seen the development of several “hybrid” alternative dispute resolution approaches to child custody disputes. The “settlement‐focused parenting plan consultation” (SFPPC) is a form of evaluative mediation, conducted by a “parenting plan consultant” (PPC), who possesses the combined expertise of a mediator and child custody evaluator. This hybrid model is a more expedient and considerably less expensive approach than a child custody evaluation, but preserves the hallmark mediation principle of self‐determination. The article describes the theory underlying the SFPPC, delineates the role requirements, procedures, and techniques of the parenting plan consultant, and addresses legal and ethical issues.     

刑事附带民事诉讼调解新路径

刑事附带民事诉讼是指司法机关在刑事诉讼过程中,在解决被告人刑事责任的同时,附带解决因被告人的犯罪行为所造成的物质损失的赔偿问题而进行的诉讼活动。在司法实践中,调解在刑事附带民事诉讼中已被广泛运用,在处理刑事附带民事案件中发挥了特殊的作用。调解作为解决民事纠纷的一种特殊制度,是促使双方当事人和解的一种结案方式和诉讼活动,具有方便、快捷、灵活、成本低廉和对抗性弱的特点。     

美国成年监护制度中的调解程序探析

目前世界上越来越多的国家都优先采用调解程序来解决成年监护制度中出现的难题,这是因为成年监护调解程序与成年监护诉讼程序相比具有得天独厚的优势,其主要体现在节约成本、提高效用和促使人际关系的和谐。基于我国成年监护制度的相对不完善,应借鉴美国在这方面的经验构建与我国国情相适应的成年监护制度调解程序。