Anthropo-Legal and Socio-Legal Evolution of Mediation and Reconciliation Projects. A Look from Different Cultures and Customs from the Perspective of Legal Pluralism

Abstract

This article makes visible the use of mediation and reconciliation projects (RPs) to deal with social conflicts in a collaborative way in different cultures. The identification of these processes, diachronically, is possible by applying an anthropo-legal and socio-legal perspective (ASP) to the phenomenon under study. This is because it is frequent to analyze them from a disciplinary technical-legal approach, which neglects the social, historical, cultural, political and pluri-legal contexts in which these processes can also be immersed.

Adopting the anthropo-legal paradigm enunciated by Merry, allows not using or drawing away from the hegemonic legal form (the trial) to intervene social conflicts. Also, it enables the perception of disputes from a dynamic conception influenced by social changes.

Thereby, the mediation processes and RPs mentioned in this paper are going to be analyzed from an ASP. This allows to consider as effective mediators those neutrals who have the ability to work with the parties in a cross-cultural way. The ASP enables us to glimpse the experiences, motivations, reasons and patterns of behavior present in the dispute that are been treated in a collaborative way, surpassing the cultural limits to arrive at a reciprocal understanding space. This approach entails a clear access to justice with a cross-cultural and pluri-legal perspective.