Cross-cultural effects in conflict management: Examining the nature and relationship between culture and international mediation

Abstract

While the importance of culture in organizational behavior has long been accepted, scholars of political science are still trying to come to terms with the concept and its implications. Traditional approaches to conflict emphasize the supremacy of the state while ignoring many of the unique internal features which differ between states. We argue that this is a mistaken approach and that one feature in particular, namely culture, does indeed have a profound effect on how states perceive the world, behave in it, and manage their conflicts. Culture has become more important in the current environment, where much conflict takes place not just between states, but mostly between groups, divided along cultural or religious lines, within a state. In this paper we want to examine how culture affects the process and effectiveness of international mediation. We develop a theoretical framework to examine culture, its dimensions, and how these may impact on mediation. We use a large-scale dataset of international mediation events to assess the relevance of our notions, and find that cultural variation does indeed have a significant impact on mediation and conflict resolution. We conclude by suggesting that greater attention be paid to cross-cultural factors in international conflict management.