The illusion of transformative conflict resolution: Mediating domestic violence in Nicaragua

Buffalo Law Review

Volumn 55, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 1261-1330

  Aldana, Raquel ^a   Saucedo, Leticia M ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 40749141176     PISSN: 00239356     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (287)

1. See Mark Engler, The Return of Daniel Ortega, NATION, Nov. 7, 2006, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061120/ortega.
2. See Richard J. Wilson, Criminal Justice in Revolutionary Nicaragua: Intimations of the Adversarial in Socialist and Civil Law Traditions, 23 U. MIAMI INTER-AM. L. REV. 269, 377 (1992).
3. See, e.g., Penelope E. Bryan, Killing Us Softly: Divorce Mediation and the Politics of Power, 40 BUFF. L. REV. 441 (1992) (explaining how mediation returns men to their dominant position);
4. Tina Grillo, The Mediation Alternative: Process Dangers for Women, 100 YALE L.J. 1545, 1568-69 (1991).
5. See Karla Fischer, Neil Vidmar & Rene Ellis, The Culture of Battering and the Role of Mediation in Domestic Violence Cases, 46 SMU L. REV. 2117, 2118 (1993).
6. See Rene L. Rimelspach, Mediating Family Disputes in a World with Domestic Violence: How to Devise a Safe and Effective Court-Connected Mediation Program, 17 OHIO ST. J. ON DISP. RESOL. 95, 95 (2001) (citing a National Center for State Courts study demonstrating the "growth and popularity" of mediation in the state courts, particularly in family law).
7. See, e.g., id. (critiquing process dangers of mediating domestic violence cases and proposing safeguards for a safer mediation process);
8. Desmond Ellis & Noreen Stuckless, Domestic Violence, DOVE, and Divorce Mediation, 44 FAM. CT. REV. 658 (2006) (addressing problems with screening risk assessment mechanisms in domestic violence mediation cases);
9. Jane C. Murphy & Robert Rubinson, Domestic Violence and Mediation: Responding to the Challenges of Crafting Effective Screens, 39 FAM. L.Q. 53 (2005) (examining ways to improve procedures for the effective mediation of certain cases involving domestic violence);
10. Nancy Ver Steegh, Yes, No, and Maybe: Informed Decision Making about Divorce Mediation in the Presence of Domestic Violence, 9 WM. & MARY J. WOMEN & L. 145 (2003) (arguing for the mediation of domestic violence on a case-by-case basis).
11. See, e.g., LAURA NADER, HARMONY IDEOLOGY: JUSTICE AND CONTROL IN A ZAPOTEC MOUNTAIN VILLAGE 307 (1990).
12. But see Amy J. Cohen, Debating the Globalization of U.S. Mediation: Politics, Power, and Practice in Nepal, 11 HARV. NEGOT. L. REV. 295 (2006) (arguing that local adaptation of mediation does not always yield the same concerns raised against mediation such as privatization of conflict or power imbalances);
13. Jean R. Sternlight, Is Alternative Dispute Resolution Consistent with the Rule of Law? Lessons from Abroad, 56 DEPAUL L. REV. 569, 590-91 (2007) (arguing that in some cases developing countries' use of mediation has improved access to and the quality of local justice).
14. See, e.g., Sally Engle Merry, Rights, Religion, and Community: Approaches to Violence Against Women in the Context of Globalization, 35 LAW & SOC'Y REV. 39 (2001) (demonstrating how globalization allows differences on the basis of religion and culture while promoting similarities in techniques of fashioning the self).
15. See, e.g., Donna Coker, Enhancing Autonomy for Battered Women: Lessons from Navajo Peacemaking, 47 UCLA L. REV. 1 (1999) (discussing informal adjudication methods used by the Navajo);
16. Richard Delgado et al., Fairness and Formality: Minimizing the Risk of Prejudice in Alternative Dispute Resolution, 1985 WIS. L. REV. 1359 (examining the potential for alternative dispute resolution to increase racial and ethnic bias).
17. Maria Luisa Ortiz Cooperative and Women's Center, http://www.peacehost. net/Dorothy/Mulukuku/ (last visited Sept. 22, 2007).
18. CORTE SUPREMA DE JUSTICIA, PROYECTO ACCESO A LA JUSTICIA Y ATENCIÓN AL USUARIO CENTROS DE ATENCIÓN, MEDIACIÓN, INFORMACIÓN Y ORENTACIÓ N [CAMINOS], DISEÑO PEDAGÓGICO PARA LA FORMACIÓN DE MEDIADORES Y MEDIADORAS COMUNITARIOS (2004) (Nicar.) (copy on file with authors) [hereinafter CAMINOS PROPOSAL].
19. For example, on August 5, 2005, we interviewed Angela Rosa Acevedo, Director of CAMINOS, and Dr. Alba Luz Ramos, former President and current Justice of the Nicaraguan Supreme Court, who spearheaded the mediation project and has worked to improve the treatment of women by judges.
20. Interview with Fabiola Peña, Supervising Attorney, Clinical Program of the Univ. of Cent. Am., in Managua, Nicar. (Aug. 8, 2005); Interview with Dr. Luis Morales Parajón, Dir. of Mediation Ctr., Autonomous Univ. of Nicar., in León, Nicar. (July 10, 2007).
21. Among them were Juanita Jimenez, long-time feminist activist and current attorney and Lobbying Director of the National Women's Network Against Violence, interviewed on August 4, 2005, and the members of Grupo Venancia in Matagalpa, a not-for-profit working on reproductive rights and issues of intra-family violence, interviewed on August 6, 2005.
22. See infra Part II for a discussion of the key players of mediation in Mulukukú.
23. See infra Part II.
24. CORTE SUPREMA DE JUSTICIA, REGLAMENTO PARA LA OPERACIÓN DE LOS CAMINO's 3 (2004) [hereinafter CAMINOS MANUAL].
25. See generally Leonard L. Riskin, Decisionmaking in Mediation: The New Old Grid and the New New Grid Systems, 79 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 1 (2003) (discussing various models of United States mediation and its effect on training).
26. See Merry, supra note 8 (examining three different approaches to domestic violence in one Hawaiian town based on rights, religion, and community).
27. Id. at 39.
28. See ROBERT A. BARUCH BUSH & JOSEPH P. FOLGER, THE PROMISE OF MEDIATION 41-84 (rev. ed. 2005).
29. See Merry, supra note 8, at 39.
30. Id. at 50
31. (citing Elizabeth Schneider, The Violence of Privacy, in THE PUBLIC NATURE OF PRIVATE VIOLENCE: THE DISCOVERY OF DOMESTIC ABUSE, 36 (Martha Albertson Fineman & Roxanne Mykitiuk eds., 1994)).
32. See id. at 39.
33. See id. at 51.
34. See id. at 41.
35. See id. at 49-50.
36. See id. at 50;
37. see also Elizabeth M. Schneider, The Violence of Privacy, 23 CONN. L. REV. 973, 985-86 (1991).
38. Sally Engle Merry, Gender Violence and Legally Engendered Selves, 2 IDENTITIES 49, 51 (1995).
39. See id. at 53.
40. See id. at 58-62.
41. See id. at 58.
42. See infra Part II.
43. See Anne Motley Hallum, Taking Stock and Building Bridges: Feminism, Women's Movements, and Pentecostalism in Latin America, 38 LATIN AM. RES. REV. 169, 171 (2003)
44. (quoting HARVEY COX, FIRE FROM HEAVEN: THE RISE OF PENTECOSTAL SPIRITUALITY AND THE RESHAPING OF RELIGION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, at xv (1995)).
45. See, e.g., RONNIE KAHN, CTR. FOR LATIN AM. & CARIBBEAN STUDIES, UNIV. OF ILL. URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, RELIGION AND POLITICS IN LATIN AMERICA (Spring 2002), www.clacs.uiuc.edu/outreach/k12/teaching/religion/.
46. In Nicaragua especially, evangelicals were not uniformly conservative and, indeed, some actively supported the revolutionary politics during Sandinismo. See, e.g., MICHAEL DODSON & LAURA NUZZI O'SHAUGHNESSY, NICARAGUA'S OTHER REVOLUTION: RELIGIOUS FAITH AND POLITICAL STRUGGLE (1990) (discussing the intersection of religious renewal and political change in Nicaragua);
47. Christian Smith & Liesl Ann Haas, Revolutionary Evangelicals in Nicaragua: Political Opportunity, Class Interests, and Religious Identity, 36 J. FOR SCI. STUD. RELIGION 440 (1997) (describing political attitudes of Nicaraguan evalgelicals).
48. See generally VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN: A CHRISTIAN THEOLOGICAL SOURCEBOOK (Carol J. Adams & Marie M. Fortune eds., 1995).
49. See Merry, supra note 8, at 41.
50. Id. at 66.
51. Id.
52. Id. at 67.
53. Id. at 66.
54. See CTR. FOR DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE, ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION PRACTITIONERS' GUIDE 1 (1998), available at http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/democracy_and_governance/publications/pdfs/ pnacb895.pdf [hereinafter ADR PRACTITIONERS' GUIDE].
55. David M. Trubek, The "Rule of Law" in Development Assistance: Past, Present, and Future, in THE NEW LAW AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL, 74 (David M. Trubek & Alvaro Santos eds., 2006).
56. For a description of USAID's efforts to promote ADR in developing countries, see ADR PRACTITIONERS' GUIDE, supra note 43, at 1.
57. BRUNO MAURICIO GALLARDO PALAVICCINE, MEDIACIÓN TRANSFORMADORA / NEGOCIACIÓN COLABORATIVA: UN CAMBIO DE PARADIGMA 24-25 (2004).
58. Id. at 25-26.
59. Id. at 28.
60. INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK, AN ENDURING PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT: CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE IDB SINCE 1990, at 15-16 (William R. Large ed., 2005), available at http://idbdocs.iadb.org/ wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=617224.
61. PALAVICCINE, supra note 46, at 27.
62. See ROGER FISHER, BRUCE M. PATTON & WILLIAM L. URY, GETTING TO YES: NEGOTIATING AGREEMENT WITHOUT GTVING IN (Penguin Books 2d ed. 1991) (1981).
63. See BUSH & FOLGER, supra note 21, at 65-72.
64. CAMINOS MANUAL, supra note 17, at 3.
65. Id.
66. See CAMINOS PROPOSAL, supra note 11, at 33.
67. Id.
68. Id.
69. Id. at 3-6.
70. See infra Part III.
71. KAREN KAMPWIRTH, FEMINISM AND THE LEGACY OF REVOLUTION: NICARAGUA, EL SALVADOR, CHIAPAS 22-23 (2004).
72. These efforts were precursors to the splintered and diverse autonomous organizations that emerged after the Sandinista defeat. See FLORENCE E. BABB, AFTER REVOLUTION: MAPPING GENDER AND CULTURAL POLITICS IN NEOLIBERAL NICARAGUA 25 (2001);
73. KAMPWIRTH, supra note 59, at 35-36.
74. See KAMPWIRTH, supra note 59, at 26.
75. Mary Ellsberg, Rodolfo Peña, Andrés Herrera, Jerker Liljestrand & Ann Winkvist, Candies in Hell: Women's Experiences of Violence in Nicaragua, 51 SOC. SCI. & MED. 1595, 1606 (2000).
76. KAMPWIRTH, supra note 59, at 30-35.
77. Id. at 44-46.
78. See Jennifer Leigh Disney, Democratization, Civil Society, and Women's Organizing in Post-Revolutionary Mozambique and Nicaragua, 25 NEW POL. SCI. 533, 535, 549-50 (2003).
79. Id. at 554 (quoting from a January 14, 2000 interview with Zoilamérica Narvaez).
80. Id. at 535.
81. Id. at 534.
82. Id. at 557.
83. Id. (quoting from a January 25, 2000 interview with Sofía Montenegro, former chief of the Sandinista daily paper, LA BARRICADA).
84. KAMPWIRTH, supra note 59, at 25;
85. see also Nancy Saporta Sternbach, Marysa Navarro-Aranguren, Patricia Chuchryk & Sonia E. Alvarez, Feminisms in Latin America: From Bogotá to San Bernardo, in THE MAKING OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA 207 (Arturo Escobar & Sonia E. Alvarez eds., 1992).
86. KAMPWIRTH, supra note 59, at 39.
87. Id. at 40.
88. Id. at 48.
89. Sternbach et al., supra note 71, at 251.
90. KAMPWIRTH, supra note 59, at 48-49.
91. Id. at 48.
92. Id. at 49.
93. Ellsberg et al., supra note 62, at 1606.
94. KAMPWIRTH, supra note 59, at 49.
95. See id. at 49.
96. See id. at 50.
97. Id. at 52.
98. See id. at 53.
99. See id.
100. See Disney, supra note 65, at 534.
101. See KAMPWIRTH, supra note 59, at 54.
102. See Disney, supra note 65, at 534.
103. Id. at 535.
104. See, e.g., id. at 552 (interviewing several former Sandinistas now working for NGOs).
105. KAMPWIRTH, supra note 59, at 63, 73-74.
106. Id. at 63.
107. Disney, supra note 65, at 549.
108. Id. at 549-50.
109. Id. at 555.
110. An interesting byproduct has been the level of coalition-building across the political spectrum, as women from the political left and right agree on gender interests, even if not on economic and collective rights.
111. See, e.g., KAMPWIRTH, supra note 59, at 67 (providing an explanation of Women's and Children's Police Stations).
112. Id. at 67. Kampwirth describes the process of establishing such police stations: Although a series of legal changes in the eighties and early nineties had strengthened the laws against domestic violence, those laws were only paper promises as long as victims of domestic violence were afraid to go to the police stations, which were mainly staffed by men who had not been trained to address such issues. In contrast, the Women's and Children's Police Stations were staffed by women and it offered a holistic range of services including legal, psychological, and medical support....
113. Id.
114. See id.
115. Ellsberg et al., supra note 62, at 1595.
116. Id.
117. Id.
118. Ley No. 230, 13 Aug. 1996, Ley de Reformas y Adiciones al Codigo Penal [Reforms and Additions to the Penal Code]; La Gaceta No. 191, 9 Oct. 1996 (Nicar.) (commonly referred to as "La Ley Para Prevencio;n y Sancion de la Violencia Intrafamiliar" [the law for the prevention and sanction of intra-family violence]).
119. Id. arts. 2, 3, 137, 139-41, 143.
120. Id. arts. 137, 141.
121. Compare U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, G.A. Res. 44/25, arts. 19-20, U.N. Doc. A/RES/44/25 (Nov. 20, 1989), with Ley No. 230 art. 102.
122. See LOUISA PÉREZ-LANDA, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN NICARAGUA: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN BY NICARAGUA 11-13, 28 (Carin Benninger-Budel ed., 2001), available at http://www.omct.org/pdf/VAW/NicaraguaEng2001.pdf.
123. See Ellsberg et al., supra note 62, at 1607 (quoting a Nicaraguan Supreme Court Justice's statement: "[I]f a man beats his wife, he must have a good reason. Surely she did something to deserve it.").
124. SALLY ENGLE MERRY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER VIOLENCE: TRANSLATING INTERNATIONAL LAW INTO LOCAL JUSTICE 192 (2006).
125. See PÉREZ-LANDA, supra note 107, at 13-14.
126. See id.
127. Interview with Juanita Jimenez, Dir. of the Nat'l Women's Network Against Violence, Red de Mujeres Contra La Violencia, in Mulukukú, Nicar. (Aug. 4, 2005).
128. See PÉREZ-LANDA, supra note 107, at 11, 13.
129. See id. at 13, 23-24.
130. See id. at 23.
131. This transformation message was evident in Daniel Ortega's presidential campaign strategy, whose message highlighted forgiveness and reconciliation.
132. Andres Perez Baltodano, How Can Consensus Be Reached When the Conflict is Denied?, 25 ENVIO 35, 41 (2006).
133. Id. at 42.
134. Id.
135. This information on Mulukukú is based on interviews with several founding community members, including Mulukukú's first mayor, Noel Montoya.
136. Región Autónoma del Atlántico Norte.
137. Región Autónoma del Atlántico Sur.
138. See Florence E. Babb, Unmaking the Revolution: From Cooperatives to Microenterprises in Urban Nicaragua, 16 A NTHROPOLOGY WORK REV. 2 (2004).
139. The Cooperative's history told here is based on interviews conducted with several of its founding members, including its Founding and Current Director, Grethel Sequeira Montoya.
140. Background on Mulukukú, The Clinic & Dorothy, http://www.peacehost.net/Dorothy/background.html (last visited Oct. 9, 2007) (quoting Dorothy Granada). Dorothy Granada has lived in Mulukukú since 1990. She became a member of the Cooperative soon after her arrival and now holds a leadership position. Id.
141. See Sternlight, supra note 7, at 577-82, for an analysis of some of the problems, including frustrations with access to justice issues, that drive the trend toward alternative dispute resolution in developing countries such as Nicaragua.
142. MERRY, supra note 109, at 181-82.
143. See Sally Engle Merry, Anthropology, Law, and Transnational Processes, 21 ANN. REV. OF ANTHROPOLOGY 357, 367 (1992).
144. The Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, Inc., http://www.imcr.org (last visited Oct. 9, 2007).
145. CAMINOS MANUAL, supra note 17.
146. Unfortunately, we had little means of verifying how many evangelical or Catholic believers have used the Mediation Center, as patrons are not asked their religious affiliation during the intake process.
147. By church leaders, we mean that the mediators are actively involved in their churches, usually as Deacons, and were specifically chosen because of their involvement in the Church. This does not preclude the possibility that mediators who mostly associated as Cooperative Members or have other secular affiliation are not themselves affiliated with a religion. However, with one exception, the Interim Director who is both a Cooperative Member and a Deacon in an evangelical church, there is no significant overlap.
148. We reviewed public intake information from the Mediation Center identifying mediators and mediation dates from January 2006 until July 2006. Of the seventy-three records we reviewed, three were conducted by religious lay leaders.
149. For example, the Interim Director described to us a case she mediated with a pastor in her church involving domestic violence that was never recorded in the Mediation Center's records. In addition, the Catholic nun who was trained as a mediator explained that she has never referred or been referred cases through the Mediation Center. She does not even appear to realize that she should report any case that comes to her. Indeed, during her interview she mentioned a large case involving a violent property dispute in a surrounding community of Mulukuk- in which she and the priest intervened. In that case, which also does not appear in the Mediation Center's records, an agreement was reached, but it is not working, and violence is resurging.
150. See, e.g., Edward T. Brett, The Impact of Religion in Central America: A Bibliographical Essay, 49 AMERICAS 297, 298-341 (1993) (providing a list of major books and articles, including several about the church's role in Nicaragua).
151. See Michael A. Gismondi, Transformations in the Holy: Religious Resistance and Hegemonic Struggles in the Nicaraguan Revolution, 13 LATIN AM. PERSP. 13, 23-31 (1986).
152. See Hallum, supra note 34, at 171, 176-78.
153. Id. at 178.
154. See id. at 181-84;
155. see also ELIZABETH E. BRUSCO, THE REFORMATION OF MACHISMO: EVANGELICAL CONVERSION AND GENDER IN COLOMBIA (1995).
156. In the town itself, there is a population of about 5,000, while the entire Mulukukú municipality has about 35,000 residents.
157. See Jorge E. Maldonado, Evangelicalism and the Family in Latin America, 82 INT'L REV. MISSION 189, 191 (1993).
158. See Creuza Maciel, Grassroots Communities: A New Way of Being and Living as a Church, in BORN OF THE POOR: THE LATIN AMERICAN CHURCH SINCE MEDELLIN 99 (Edward L. Cleary ed., 1990);
159. see also EDWARD L. CLEARY, CRISIS AND CHANGE: THE CHURCH IN LATIN AMERICA TODAY 26-50, 65-74 (1985) (discussing the origins and underpinnings of Liberation Theology in Latin America).
160. See, e.g., Frances O'Gorman, Medellin and Puebla: Turmoil and Hope at the Grassroots, in BORN OF THE POOR, supra note 142, at 104.
161. Id. at 109.
162. See Margarita Almachiara d'Angelo, El Desarrollo del Pentecostalismo en Nicaragua, Latinamerika (Rostock) 25 (1990) 1, at 93-95;
163. see also CARMELO E. ALVAREZ, PEOPLE OF HOPE: THE PROTESTANT MOVEMENT IN CENTRAL AMERICA WITH SELECTED STATEMENTS FROM THE CHURCHES 2-5, 52 (1990).
164. d'Angelo, supra note 145, at 98 (describing, as example, the evangelical crusades of the 1960s sponsored by Kenneth Strach, and the more recent one by YeYe Avila and Jimmy Swaggart).
165. Id. at 98-99.
166. Of this denomination, there are two churches in the town, one of which we did not visit because the pastor was not in town.
167. The total number of church members is approximately 821 (excluding the church we did not visit), which is only 14% of the population.
168. Interview with Pastor Edilberto Méndez, Nicar. United Mission of Evangelical Pentecostals, in Mulukukú, Nicar. (July 15, 2006).
169. Interview with Sister Sandra in Mululuku, Nicar. (July 15, 2006).
170. See d'Angelo, supra note 145, at 100 (describing similar phenomena in other parts of Nicaragua);
171. see also Maldonado, supra note 141, at 194 (generalizing these phenomena throughout Latin America).
172. See d'Angelo, supra note 145, at 100.
173. See Maldonado, supra note 141, at 194.
174. See id.
175. All but one of the pastors are male.
176. There was one pastor, a newcomer, who did not fit in as well. He came from the second largest city of Nicaragua, Leon, and his education, manner of communication, and dress set him apart from the other pastors we interviewed.
177. See Maldonado, supra note 141, at 197-98;
178. see also d'Angelo, supra note 145, at 105.
179. See Maldonado, supra note 141, at 198.
180. See id.
181. See id.
182. See id.
183. See id. at 194.
184. See id.
185. See id. at 196.
186. See id.;
187. see also d'Angelo, supra note 145, at 101.
188. See Maldonado, supra note 141, at 195.
189. In Mulukukú, the most popular way churches evangelize is through radio programming, which may also explain the popularity and identification of the town with evangelical churches, even if church membership is smaller. Mulukukú now boasts a total of three radio stations, one established in the last year. The second oldest radio station, called Manantial de Vida (Fountain of Life), is owned and operated by the Assembly of God. This radio station has been around for about five years and is able to reach as far as the border of Honduras. Most of the programming is produced by the Assembly of God; however, the radio sells programming to several other evangelical churches in town. The third radio station, which is less than a year old, is called Estereo Linda and is apparently operated by the conservative Liberal Party of Nicaragua, the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC). Most of the Christian programming is comprised of what churches in Mulukukú call " evangelisticos" which means they include gospel, prayer, and a sermon.
190. See Maldonado, supra note 141, at 196.
191. Maldonado, supra note 141, at 197.
192. See id. at 196.
193. See id.
194. See id.
195. There are recorded tapings of these programs that could be made available for our research. Unfortunately, these were not available except at the radio station, and we did not have time during this trip to listen to the tapes. As such, we have no way of evaluating or describing the content of the programming.
196. In this past election, the United States supported of the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (Alianza Liberal Nicaraguense (ALN)), a political party created by Eduardo Montealegre and other members of the Constitutional Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC)) who opposed former President Arnoldo Alemán's continued control of the PLC after he had been found guilty of embezzling public funds. See Brian J. Carreira, Â!Mi Comandante Es Mi Presidente!: Daniel Ortega Comes Back to Power, BROOK. RAIL, Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007, available at http://www.brooklynrail. org/2006/12/express/mi-commandante; THE CARTER CENTER, NICARAGUAN ELECTIONS: TRIP REPORT BY FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER, NOV. 4-7, 2006 (Nov. 9, 2006), available at http://www.cartercenter.org/news/trip_reports/nicaragua_trip_report.html? printerFriendly=true.
197. CLEARY, supra note 142, at 82;
198. see id. at 81-82.
199. See id. at 86-87.
200. See id. at 88-91.
201. See id. at 91-94.
202. See id. at 92.
203. Id.
204. See id. at 94.
205. Id. at 88;
206. see id. at 87-89.
207. Interview with Sister Sandra in Mulukuk-, Nicar. (July 15, 2006).
208. MERRY, supra note 109, at 136.
209. Sally Engle Merry, Disputing Without Culture, 100 HARV. L. REV. 2057, 2064-65 (1987) (reviewing STEPHEN B. GOLDBERG ET AL., DISPUTE RESOLUTION (1985)).
210. BUSH & FOLGER, supra note 21, at 8-9.
211. Id. at 9-11.
212. Interview with members of the Maria Luisa Ortiz Cooperative, in Mulukukú, Nicar. (Aug. 13, 2005).
213. BUSH & FOLGER, supra note 21, at 11-12.
214. Id. at 12.
215. Merry, supra note 128, at 367.
216. See BUSH & FOLGER, supra note 21, at 21.
217. Id. at 13.
218. Id. at 21.
219. Id. at 36.
220. Id. at 13-14, 76-77.
221. Id. at 14, 83.
222. Id. at 121, 146.
223. Id. at 26.
224. Id. at 55.
225. Id. at 15-16.
226. For more in-depth arguments about the weaknesses of mediation, see Delgado et al., supra note 9, at 1375-83;
227. Grillo, supra note 3, at 1555-1607;
228. Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Pursuing Settlement in an Adversary Culture: A Tale of Innovation Co-opted or "The Law of ADR," 19 FLA. ST. U. L. REV. 1 (1991);
229. Laura Nader, Disputing Without the Force of Law, 88 YALE L.J. 998 (1979).
230. See Laura Nader, Harmony Models and the Construction of Law, in CONFLICT RESOLUTION 41, 51-53 (Kevin Avruch et al. eds., 1991).
231. Id. at 53.
232. LAURA NADER, THE LIFE OF THE LAW: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PROJECTS 32, 141 (2002).
233. Id. at 131.
234. Id. at 13.
235. See NADER, supra note 7, at 307.
236. Delgado et al., supra note 9, at 1387-92.
237. Grillo, supra note 3, at 1600-07.
238. Id. at 1549-50.
239. Id. at 1555.
240. Id. at 1563-64.
241. Id. at 1565.
242. Id. at 1569.
243. Id. at 1588.
244. Katherine R. Kruse, Learning from Practice: What ADR Needs from a Theory of Justice, 5 NEV. L.J. 389, 389 (2004).
245. Id. at 394.
246. Id. at 393.
247. Richard L. Abel, Introduction to THE POLITICS OF INFORMAL JUSTICE 1, 7 (Richard L. Abel ed., 1982).
248. Id.
249. See David Greatbatch & Robert Dingwall, Selective Facilitation: Some Preliminary Observations on a Strategy Used by Divorce Mediators, 23 LAW & SOCY REV. 613 (1989);
250. Hilary Astor, Mediator Neutrality: Making Sense of Theory and Practice 5 (Sydney Law Sch. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 07/46, 2007), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=998202.
251. See Linda Mulcahy, The Possibilities and Desirability of Mediator Neutrality-Towards an Ethic of Partiality?, 10 SOC. & LEGAL STUD. 505 (2001).
252. See Sara Cobb & Janet Rifkin, Practice and Paradox: Deconstructing Neutrality in Mediation, 16 LAW & SOC. INQUIRY 35, 45 (1991);
253. Rosemary Hunter & Alice Leonard, Sex Discrimination and Alternative Dispute Resolution: British Proposals in the Light of International Experience, 8 Pub. L. 298, 307-08 (1997).
254. Author and Nicaraguan mediation expert and trainer Bruno Mauricio Gallardo Palaviccine expresses in his book on Nicaraguan mediation the hope that through mediation, Nicaraguans will work for a culture of peaceful coexistence and that mediation will initiate a genuine transformation and a paradigm shift in the way we perceive conflict as a means toward social, economic and moral development. PALAVICCINE, supra note 46, at 148.
255. Jeffrey R. Seul, How Transformative is Transformative Mediation?: A Constructive-Developmental Assessment, 15 OHIO ST. J. ON DISP. RESOL. 135, 136 (1999).
256. Id. at 156.
257. See id. at 163-64.
258. See id. at 167.
259. BUSH & FOLGER, supra note 21, at 44 (emphasis omitted).
260. MERRY, supra note 109, at 137.
261. BUSH & FOLGER, supra note 21, at 44.
262. See BERNARD MAYER, BEYOND NEUTRALITY: CONFRONTING THE CRISIS IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION 17 (2004);
263. John Forester & David Stitzel, Beyond Neutrality: The Possibilities of Activist Mediation in Public Sector Conflicts, 5 NEGOTIATION J. 251, 254 (1989);
264. Lawrence Susskind & Connie Ozawa, Mediated Negotiation in the Public Sector: Mediator Accountability and the Public Interest Problem, 27 AM. BEHAV. SCIENTIST 255, 269 (1983).
265. Hunter & Leonard, supra note 224, at 311.
266. Cohen, supra note 7, at 337-51.
267. See id.
268. See id. at 339.
269. Id.
270. See id. at 342.
271. Id.
272. See id.
273. See Seul, supra note 226, at 154, 159.
274. John Paul Lederach, Of Nets, Nails, and Problems: The Folk Language of Conflict Resolution in a Central American Setting, in CONFLICT RESOLUTION 165, 183-85 (Kevin Avruch et al. eds., 1991).
275. See id. at 183-85.
276. See id. at 176.
277. See id. at 181.
278. Id. at 184-85.
279. See Nora Sveaass, Psychological Work in a Post-War Context-Experiences from Nicaragua, 3 COMMUNITY, WORK & FAM. 37, 45-53 (2000).
280. See id. at 45-53.
281. Id. at 46.
282. See id.
283. See id. at 39.
284. James A. Wall, Jr. & Ronda Roberts Callister, Ho'oponopono: Some Lessons from Hawaiian Mediation, 11 NEGOTIATION J. 45, 48 (1995).
285. Id.
286. Id. at 50.
287. MERRY, supra note 109, at 180-81.