International peace mediation through a legal lens

Mediation has recently emerged as a suitable method of resolving armed conflicts (international peace mediation), with a significant increase in the amount of conflicts being resolved by negotiated settlement as opposed to military dominance. Development of the international peace mediation discourse has, however, been ad hoc and disjunctive, resulting in a significant disparity regarding its conceptualisation, a lack of established accountability mechanisms, and the absence of a pragmatic coherent framework. This article highlights how the application of the extant framework on mediation in legal discourse can provide clarity in defining and developing an understanding of international peace mediation. It focuses on the case study of the international peace mediation efforts in the Acehnese region of Indonesia.