Isak Svensson, Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, discusses this year’s theme “Making Peace – Meetings, Mediators and Peace” with Kjell-Åke Nordqvist. This is the third episode in the podcast-series leading up to the 2021 Kastelholmtalks on Peace. The podcast is held in Swedish, and our intern – Esther Djupsund – has written a summary in English: One main issue that Svensson points out in the discussions is that since conflicts are changing, we also need to change the way that mediation is done. The initial discussions focused on the mediator and his or her role in conflict solutions and mediation situations. Svensson puts emphasis on mediation being one of the most important components in conflict solution. Some interesting developments when it comes to mediation were brought up when Nordqvist and Svensson was discussing the term ‘mediation’. Mediation hava during a long period of time been a function that occurs in situations where it is needed, but lately there has been a development where some institutions builds support systems and educates and specializes on mediation. While one would perhaps think that this would mean that the number of mediated conflicts would increase, this is not the case
