Mediating the Mediation Debate

Conflict Resolution and the Local State in China

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6285033
AutoresBenjamin L Read (0000-0001-7072-9049, Politics Department, University of California, Santa Cruz), Erica Michelson (0000-0002-3561-3048, Indiana University Bloomington), Ethan Michelson (Indiana University)
Año2008
Volumen52
Número5
Páginas737-764
Fecha de publicación2008-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022002708318920
OpenAlexW2154220649
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas27

China's elaborate system of local mediation committees has piqued researchers' curiosity for decades and sparked an argument in these pages. Crucial questions—concerning how much mediation actually takes place, what kinds of disputes are mediated, who seeks mediation, and how successful it is—have gone unanswered for lack of data. This article addresses these issues using original surveys from Beijing and villages in six provinces, supplemented by participant-observation research on actual instances of mediation. We find that mediation is fairly common in the country-side while occurring in a narrow set of contexts in the city. Those who are actively involved in institutions of grassroots governance are much more likely than others to seek such remedies, and in rural China, women pursue it more than men do. Modernization may diminish the salience of this form of dispute resolution, yet it is far from extinct, even in contemporary society

Alternative dispute resolution · Argument (complex analysis · Beijing · China · Corporate governance · Grassroots · Mediation · Political science · Salience (neuroscience · Sociology · Transformative mediation · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Law · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies