Critical Moments as Relational Moments: The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and the Conflict in Aceh, Indonesia

Abstract

Comments about the role of the mediator made by Lakhdar Brahimi, United Nations Special Envoy to Afghanistan, frame this inquiry into the relational milieu favorable to dialogue that explores a series of facilitated discussions between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Republic of Indonesia convened by the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC). Participants were interviewed as part of an oral history project investigating critical moments in negotiation. This method permitted an in‐depth study of a dialogue process as it was understood by the parties themselves, and highlighted the distinctive perspectives practitioners bring to bear with respect to accounting for decisive shifts in negotiation. Critical moments, for this dialogue community, included both macrolevel turning points and microlevel relational exchanges. Attention to the microprocess of exchanges deemed critical by participants suggests the crucial roles played by the practitioners’ attitudes and relational dispositions.