The Role of Mediation in International Commercial Disputes: Reflections on Some Technological, Ethical and Educational Challenges

Abstract

The purpose of this piece is to reflect on the role currently played by mediation in the resolution of international commercial disputes. This objective is both broad and ambitious and the chapter benefits from the fact that this book contains over a dozen contributions from prestigious authors in the mediation sector who adroitly address a broad range of aspects of international commercial mediation. The chapter’s main focus is consequently the outlining and discussing of a specific series of issues that aim to complement the analysis developed by the other contributors in this edited volume. Section II therefore explores the new meaning that some scholars have attached to the widely used acronym ADR (alternative dispute resolution). Considering mediation an important part of the ‘appropriate dispute resolution’ mechanisms available to commercial disputants suggests that a new light is shining through this important sector and the principles that it embraces, such as access to justice. This central idea is developed in Section III, which addresses various highly topical issues in the framework of commercial mediation: the dilemma of compulsory mediation in non-family contexts; the impact of developments in information and communication technology on the mediation milieu; the role of ethics in the contemporary mediation world, and the structure and main objectives of training schemes in international commercial mediation. Section IV concludes the discussion and leads on to the thematic studies of international commercial mediation.