Mediator Impartiality: Banishing the Chimera

It has often been said that one major factor determining the success of third party mediation efforts is their perceived impartiality, but the importance of impartiality to successful mediation has recently come into question (Bercovitch et al., 1991; Wehr & Lederach, 1991). This paper attempts to argue that it is nevertheless crucial under certain conditions. It will become clear that there is more than one style of mediation (a fact which is often neglected in comparative studies) and that a failure to distinguish these styles in future will have a severe impact on the validity of any study of mediation effectiveness. On this basis, research in future should be directed first towards distinguishing particular styles of mediation, and second towards studies of their effectiveness. Finally, it will be shown that mediator impartiality may indeed be less important to powered, coercive mediation, but in a non-coercive, private, and voluntary mediation, impartiality is vital to success.