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MEDIATION (Lat. medius, middle)
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See also:MEDIATION (See also:Lat. medius, See also:middle) , in the See also:international sense, the intervention of a third See also:power, on the invitation or with the consent of two other See also:powers, for the purpose of arranging See also:differences between the latter without recourse to See also:war. Mediation may also take See also:place after war has broken out, with a view to putting an end to it on terms. In either See also:case the mediating power negotiates on behalf of the parties who invoke or accept its aid, but does not go farther. Unlike an arbitrating power the mediator limits his intervention to See also:suggestion and See also:advice. His See also:action is liable to be arrested at any See also:time at the will of either party unless otherwise agreed, in which case to See also:arrest it prematurely would be a See also:breach of See also:good faith. The difference between mediation and See also:arbitration may be stated in the words of the See also:Digest (See also:lib. iv. tit. 8, § 13): " Recepisse autem arbitrium videtur, ut ait Pedius, qui judicis partes suscepit finemque se sua sententia controversiis impositurum pollicetur. Quod si hactenus intervenit ut experiretur an concilio suo vel auctoritate discuti litem paterentur, non videtur arbitrium recepisse." Some writers distinguish mediation from " good offices," but the distinction is of little See also:practical value. We may, if we please, regard " good offices " as inchoate mediation, and " mediation " as good offices brought to the See also:birth. Thus we may say that a third power renders " good offices " when it brings the parties together so as to make See also:diplomatic negotiations between them possible; whilst if it takes an active See also:part in those negotiations it becomes for the time being a mediator. The spontaneous yet successful effort made by See also:President See also:Roosevelt in 1905 to bring together the See also:Russian and See also:Japanese governments, and to secure their appointing delegates to discuss terms of See also:peace, although not strictly mediation, was closely akin to it. Of successful mediation in the strict sense there have been many instances: that of See also:Great See also:Britain, in 1825, between See also:Portugal and See also:Brazil; of See also:France, in 1849—185o, when differences arose between Great Britain and See also:Greece ; of the Great Powers, in 1868-1869, when the relations of Greece and See also:Turkey were strained to breaking-point by See also:reason of the insurrection in See also:Crete; of See also:Pope See also:Leo XIIL, in 1885, between See also:Germany and See also:Spain in the See also:matter of the See also:Caroline Islands. In these cases mediation averted war. The Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the war between See also:Chile and See also:Peru in 1882, and that between Greece and Turkey in 1897, are instances of See also:wars brought to a See also:close through the mediation of neutral powers. Mediation has also been occasion-ally employed where differences have arisen as to the See also:interpretation of See also:treaties or as to the mode in which they ought to be carried out: as when Great Britain mediated between France and the See also:United States with regard to the Treaty of See also:Paris of the 4th of See also:July 183o. In one case at least mediation has been successful after a proposal for arbitration had failed. In 1844, when war between Spain and See also:Morocco was threatened by reason of the frequent raids by the inhabitants of the Rif on the See also:Spanish See also:settlement of See also:Ceuta, Spain declined arbitration on the ground that her rights were too clear for See also:argument. But both she and Morocco subsequently accepted See also:joint mediation at the hands of Great Britain and France. The cause of mediation was considerably advanced by the See also:Declaration of Paris of 1856. The plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, France, See also:Austria, See also:Russia, See also:Sardinia and Turkey recorded in a See also:protocol, at the instance of See also:Lord See also:Clarendon, their joint wish that " states between which any misunderstanding might arise should, before appealing to arms, have recourse so far as circumstances might allow (en See also:tent que See also:les circonstances l'admettraient) to the good offices of a friendly power." See also:Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris, concluded in the same See also:year, stipulated that " if there should arise between the See also:Sublime See also:Porte and one or more of the other See also:signing powers any misunderstanding which might endanger the See also:maintenance of their relations, the Porte and each of such powers, before having recourse to the use of force, shall afford the other contracting parties the opportunity of preventing such as extremity by means of mediation." These precedents (in which it will be seen that " good offices " and " mediation are used interchangeably) were followed in the See also:general See also:act agreed to at the See also:Conference held at See also:Berlin in 1884-1885 the See also:object of which was to secure religious and commercial See also:liberty and to limit warlike operations in the See also:Congo See also:basin. A See also:special See also:form of mediation was proposed by a delegate from the United States at the Peace Conference held at the See also:Hague in 1899, and was approved by the representatives of the powers there assembled. The clause in which this proposal was embodied provided in effect that, whenever there is danger of a rupture between two powers, each of them shall choose a third power to which these differences shall be referred, and that, pending such reference, for a See also:period not exceeding See also:thirty days (unless the time is extended by agreement) the powers at issue shall cease to negotiate with each other and leave the dispute entirely in the hands of the mediating powers. The powers thus appealed to occupy a position analogous to that of seconds in a See also:duel, who are authorized to arrange an " affair of See also:honour " between their principals. This novel See also:device has the See also:advantage of toning down, if not of eliminating, See also:personal and See also:national prejudices by which' controversy is frequently em= bittered. It also gets over the difficulty, often met with in arbitration, of choosing a See also:referee satisfactory to both parties. The closer the relations between states become, the more their commercial interests are intertwined, the larger the part which mediation seems destined to See also:play. It is true that states which have accepted the intervention of a mediator remain See also:free to adopt or reject any advice he may give, but the advice of. a disinterested power must always add considerable moral See also:weight " to the See also:side towards which it inclines. (M. H. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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