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Towards a Contextual Understanding of Local Level Mediation and Mediation Capacity Building: A Case Study of Beng Commune

Alamri, Sarah LU (2010) MIDM70 20101
LUMID International Master programme in applied International Development and Management
Abstract
The overwhelming majority of disputes in Cambodia are handled in the informal justice system through mediation. Commune Councils are a vital component of the informal justice system, and their role as mediators is one of their most time-consuming duties. Currently, there is no national mediation program standardizing this function, resulting in Communes throughout the country performing dispute resolution activities with varying degrees of capacity and support, and with varied outcomes. Adopting an actor oriented perspective on development interventions, this study maintains that a mediation program must take into account the specific social and cultural features of the context within which it is implemented. A grounded theory case study... (More)
The overwhelming majority of disputes in Cambodia are handled in the informal justice system through mediation. Commune Councils are a vital component of the informal justice system, and their role as mediators is one of their most time-consuming duties. Currently, there is no national mediation program standardizing this function, resulting in Communes throughout the country performing dispute resolution activities with varying degrees of capacity and support, and with varied outcomes. Adopting an actor oriented perspective on development interventions, this study maintains that a mediation program must take into account the specific social and cultural features of the context within which it is implemented. A grounded theory case study of Beng Commune Council was therefore performed with the objective of identifying the specific social and cultural features of this Council which may potentially impact the outcome of mediation capacity-building efforts. Features specific to the Council context such as categorization and ranking systems, organizational features, and perceptions of past capacity-building interventions were identified as prominent characteristics. It was further revealed that these features bear the potential to impact the accuracy with which the Commune’s disputes are represented, thereby impacting the content of capacity-building interventions and, ultimately, impacting the capacity of mediators. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Alamri, Sarah LU
supervisor
organization
course
MIDM70 20101
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
1607420
date added to LUP
2010-11-09 14:39:01
date last changed
2011-01-21 11:08:34
@misc{1607420,
  abstract     = {{The overwhelming majority of disputes in Cambodia are handled in the informal justice system through mediation. Commune Councils are a vital component of the informal justice system, and their role as mediators is one of their most time-consuming duties. Currently, there is no national mediation program standardizing this function, resulting in Communes throughout the country performing dispute resolution activities with varying degrees of capacity and support, and with varied outcomes. Adopting an actor oriented perspective on development interventions, this study maintains that a mediation program must take into account the specific social and cultural features of the context within which it is implemented. A grounded theory case study of Beng Commune Council was therefore performed with the objective of identifying the specific social and cultural features of this Council which may potentially impact the outcome of mediation capacity-building efforts. Features specific to the Council context such as categorization and ranking systems, organizational features, and perceptions of past capacity-building interventions were identified as prominent characteristics. It was further revealed that these features bear the potential to impact the accuracy with which the Commune’s disputes are represented, thereby impacting the content of capacity-building interventions and, ultimately, impacting the capacity of mediators.}},
  author       = {{Alamri, Sarah}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Towards a Contextual Understanding of Local Level Mediation and Mediation Capacity Building: A Case Study of Beng Commune}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}