Human, not too human: Why is mediation a profound alternative to the legal proceedings?

Abstract

This chapter presents an attempt to understand why mediation has gained so much popularity in the western world in the past three decades. I demonstrate how mediation, of all the processes that have sprung under the umbrella of the ADR movement, responds to some basic human needs and offers a way to thoroughly deal with authoritarian tendencies and patterns common, too common, in modern everyday life. A wider understanding of these needs can help emphasize the added values of the mediation process as a profound alternative to the legal proceedings as a mechanism for transforming disputes.

Citation

Kuttner, R. (2009), "Human, not too human: Why is mediation a profound alternative to the legal proceedings?", Sarat, A. (Ed.) Studies in Law, Politics and Society (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 50), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 139-167. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-4337(2009)0000050008