Glossary
- Mediation
A political process in which the conflict parties (or key stakeholders) in intrastate or ethnopolitical conflicts agree to accept one or more third-party actors who are not involved in the conflict, enjoy the trust of the disputants and are considered potentially supportive in overcoming the deadlock triggered by a stalemate in the conflict. Mediation may be official or unofficial. While in principle both processes are complementary, experience indicates that the lines between them are often blurred. This is related to the fact that mediation not only may become an issue between conflict parties, but also may be affected by tensions, competing interests and in-fighting within factions of their own constituencies. Also see Official Mediation and Unofficial Mediation.