Argumentation in Dispute Mediation: A Reasonable Way to Handle Conflict
This 2011 book by Sara Greco Morasso concerns a novel approach to the analysis of the importance of communication in dispute mediation and focuses on how conflicting parties are helped by the mediator become reasonable discussant, able to tackle their problem and possibly find a solution. A fine argumentative and linguistic analysis of real mediation cases is presented, alongside a detailed overview of current studies in dispute resolution. As of February 2012, the book is listed as $143 for hardbound and e-book versions.
More from the publisher’s website:
“A specific strength of this brilliant work is the very refined analysis of conflicts in their argumentative but also human, emotional as well as cognitive dimensions. In the actual practice of conflict resolution, these elements mutually scaffold each other for better or for worse. The reader will find a very detailed account of how the process of argumentation is co-constructed in the context of dispute mediation. In other words, this book re-reads the tenets of conflict resolution from a communicative viewpoint, showing how the fundamental principles of mediation are realized by means of the mediator’s contribution to the parties’ argumentative discussion. The consideration of the disputants’ interests (guaranteed by the mediator) builds the necessary trust for them to shift from conflict to cooperation and opens the way to enter into a sound argumentative process. The mediator’s argumentative awareness is a key-element in this respect: it enhances the possibility to reframe the problem and helps the parties build a creative solution to their problem. This very well informed book will fascinate all those who are interested in understanding argumentation and conflict mediation in context.”
– Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont, University of Neuchâtel