INTERNATIONAL MEDIATION AS AN ARGUMENTATIVE ACTIVITY TYPE
INTERNATIONAL MEDIATION AS AN ARGUMENTATIVE ACTIVITY TYPE

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses mediation as one of the various activity types of argumentative practice, brought into view by van Eemeren and Houtlosser (2005). The mediator’s behaviour is determined by the context and circumstances of the dispute, that is, by the type of argumentative activity he is engaged in. It is considered that in mediation there are no fixed sets of rules and strategies, universally applicable to any environment or dispute, as mediation is viewed as a weakly institutionalised activity. Still, international mediation, as it unfolds between powerful representatives of states, and deals with cultural values, can be considered somewhere in the middle. Nevertheless, it is a form of social practice with its own architecture, distribution of participant roles, goals and values, thus creating a particular context for discourse.

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