IDENTIFYING EFFECTIVE MEDIATION OF ETHNIC CONFLICT WITHIN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

Abstract

Ethnic conflict has become a serious issue in international relations due to the extreme nature and violence involved in the conflict. In addition mediation has become a tool increasingly used to try and resolve ethnic conflicts. As such this thesis set out to examine if there was a sequential method of mediation behaviour within ethnic conflict that could be attributed to success. This thesis first analyses the literature on ethnicity to determine the possible avenues for how ethnic conflict could manifest. This analysis is then used to determine how ethnic conflict manifested in four cases of ethnic conflict in the Asia-Pacific region (Bougainville, Sri Lanka, East Timor and Aceh). This thesis then uses a model of mediation behaviour that was created following a systematic review of mediation literature and tools to determine what impact the setting of mediation, the attributes of the parties and the mediator, and the strategies employed by the mediator and parties have on the success of mediation. The thesis found that while no single sequential method of mediation behaviour could be attributed to success, there were a number of aspects of mediation behaviour that can be said to enhance the likelihood that mediation will be successful within ethnic conflict.