Timing Mediation Initiatives

by I. William Zartman and Alvaro de Soto

A mediation initiative cannot be launched at just any time if it is to succeed. The conflict must be ripe for the initiation of negotiation. Parties resolve their conflict only when forced to do so, or when each party’s efforts to achieve a unilaterally satisfactory result are blocked and the parties feel trapped in an uncomfortable and costly predicament.