Elder Mediation in Theory and Practice: Study Results From a National Caregiver Mediation Demonstration Project

Mediation is a process through which a third party facilitates discussion among disputing parties to help them identify interests and ideally reach an amicable solution. Elder mediation is a growing subspecialty to address conflicts involving older adults, primarily involving caregiving or finances. Mediation is theorized to empower participants but critics argue that it can exacerbate power imbalances among parties and coerce consensus. These contested claims are examined through study of a national caregiver mediation demonstration project. Study implications underscore the importance of gerontological social work expertise to ensure the empowerment of vulnerable older adults in mediation sessions.     

WHAT IS THE MULTITUDE?

Nicholas Brown and Imre Szeman continue their conversation with Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. (See ‘The Global Coliseum: On Empire’ in Cultural Studies, 16.2, (March 2002), p. 177–192). In this new interview they press the authors of Empire and Multitude on questions that have arisen both out of their own involvement with the theoretical issues generated by Empire and from new areas opened up by Multitude. Why is the multitude not a class? How can the unity of a political project be maintained in the multiplicity of the multitude? Is democracy still a project for the future? Can a political subject constitute itself outside the structure of sovereignty? In other words, what is the multitude?     

Divorce and Coparenting: A Qualitative Study on Family Mediation in Italy

This qualitative study intended to assess how intergenerational transformative family mediation is a resource in promoting and supporting coparenting during the transition of divorce. There were 2 goals: to assess parents’ perceptions of key topics of family mediation and to compare their perceptions concerning different moments of the intervention. Fifteen Italian parents were interviewed using an ad hoc semistructured interview. Data were analyzed using the textual analysis software T-LAB. Findings showed mediator, pragmatic aspects, and family relationships as the most salient aspects of mediation. Significant differences emerged among the beginning, the middle phase, and the end of this intervention.     

THE MYTH OF THE GRINGO CHIEF: AMAZONIAN MESSIAHS AND THE POWER OF IMMEDIACY

In this article, I investigate the sociocultural grounding and sociopolitical position of Randy Borman, the “gringo chief” of the indigenous Cofán people of Amazonian Ecuador. Born to North American missionary-linguists, Borman grew up in Cofán communities, attended school in urban Ecuador and the United States, and developed into the most important Cofán activist on the global stage. I consider him alongside other ethnically ambiguous leaders of Amazonian political movements, whom anthropologists have described as “messianic” figures. The historians and ethnographers who write about Amazonian messianism debate the relationship between myth and reason in indigenous political action. Using their discussion as a starting point, I propose the concept of “mythical politics,” a type of transformative action that concentrates enabling forms of socio-temporal mediation in the shape of individual actors and instantaneous events. I develop my approach through a discussion of the work of Georges Sorel, Georg Lukács, and Antonio Gramsci, three theorists who debate the role of myth in political mobilization. By applying their insights to the case of Borman, I explore the relationship between myth, mediation, and rationality in Cofán politics and political movements more generally.     

人民调解协议的效力变迁

作为东方之花,人民调解制度在社会矛盾化解和纠纷解决中发挥了重要功能。人民调解协议的效力体现了人民调解制度的性质及价值定位,是人民调解制度功能发挥的关键所在。在人民调解制度的发展史上,有关调解协议效力的规定不尽一致。2010年通过的《人民调解法》更是在协议效力方面实现了历史性突破。对此,学界和实务界褒贬不一。通过人民调解协议效力的历史考察,文章旨在审视人民调解协议效力的变迁历程,总结人民调解协议效力的变迁规律,评析当前立法的科学性及可行性．进而为进一步完善提供知识积累。     

调解率的理性反思——调解案件进入执行程序的分析解读

调解表明双方合意的最大化,具有维权成本低、及时化解矛盾、节约司法资源等功能性优势。但司法实践中出现了调解案件占执行案件比例趋升、调解案件申请执行率高的现象,调解案件进入执行程序反映出调解合意的贫困化,调解效果异化,"案结事了"司法功能出现弱化趋势。这种现象的原因既有恶意拖延逃避执行等当事人因素,也有法院为主导下策驱动的强制调解,因此应将合理定位调解制度,在司法理念上澄清认识误区,在司法考核技术规则上合理设计,在司法制度上进行立法完善。     

我国人民调解制度及其伦理文化基础

对我国人民调解制度进行深层次分析,它之所以能够源远流长并在国家治理和社会管理中一直发挥重要作用的原因,不能不涉及它的伦理文化基础问题。儒家理论文化的长期浸润和影响,使得中国成为一个"礼仪之邦"式的"道德大国",传统的伦理精神养成了中国人习惯和善于从道德上论是非、解决纠纷和争端的思维定式,为我国人民调解制度的建立和发展完善提供了深厚的伦理基础。     

传承和弘扬:瑶族习惯法在人民调解中的运用——以广西金秀一起相邻排水纠纷的调解为例

中国现行的人民调解制度,是继承和发扬中国民间调解的历史传统,在实践中不断完善和发展起来的一项具有中国特色的、重要的法律制度。2008年4月广西金秀瑶族自治县金秀镇司法所、人民调解委员会在一起相邻排水纠纷调解过程中,借鉴瑶族传统的纠纷处理习惯法,吸纳瑶族固有习惯法的现代价值,圆满地解决村民之间的冲突,取得了较好的社会效果。这表明瑶族习惯法在当代中国纠纷解决中是有现实意义的。     

Mechanisms of the Effect of Involuntary Retirement on Older Adults’ Self-Rated Health and Mental Health

This study examined mechanisms of the effect of involuntary retirement on self-rated health and mental health among adults aged 50 or older. Using two waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2006 and 2010), we selected a sample of 1,195 individuals working for pay at baseline who responded to a lifestyle questionnaire in both waves. Regression-based path analyses were conducted to test the mediating effects of financial control, positive and negative family relationships, and social integration on the relationship between involuntary retirement and self-rated health and mental health. Results of mediation analyses indicated that transition to involuntary retirement was directly negatively associated with subsequent self-rated health and indirectly negatively associated with mental health via perception of less financial control. Voluntary retirement was indirectly positively associated with both self-rated and mental health via perception of more financial control. No significant direct or indirect effects of retirement were found when retirement was measured with an aggregate measure without specifying its voluntariness. Findings emphasize the importance of specifying the voluntariness of retirement and recognizing the heterogeneity in the mechanisms of involuntary and voluntary retirement.     

法院调解适用范围探析

作为法院调解制度适用的前提,法院调解的范围应予明确界定。一般来讲,法院调解的应有范围可界定为,只有当事人可以相互让步的案件才契合调解的特质,方有调解发挥功效的空间;而身份关系案件和形成之诉案件的当事人无任何自由处分的权限,诉讼的性质亦使调解无法产生相应效力,故此两类案件自无调解适用之余地。