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20 The Mediation Process <br />faith. These courts were crucial to the protection of cultural <br />identity and ensured that Jews had a formalized means of dis- <br />pute resolution. In many locales they were barred from other <br />means of dispute settlement because of their religion. <br />With the rise of nation-states, mediators took on new <br />roles as formal secular diplomatic intermediaries. Diplomats <br />such as ambassadors and envoys acted to "raise and clarify so- <br />cial issues and problems, to modify conflicting interests, and to <br />transmit information of mutual concern to parties" (Werner, <br />1974, p. 95). <br />The practice of mediation is not confined to Western cul- <br />ture. In fact, mediation has probably been more widely prac- <br />ticed in China and Japan, where religion and philosophy place a <br />strong emphasis on social consensus, moral persuasion, and <br />striking a balance or harmony in human relations (Brown, <br />1982). Mediation is currently widely practiced in the People's <br />Republic of ,China through People's Conciliation Committees <br />(Ginsberg, 1978; Li, 1978). <br />Latin America and other Hispanic cultures also have a his- <br />tory of mediated dispute settlement. Nader (1969) reports on <br />the dispute resolution process in the Mexican village of Ralu'a, <br />where a judge assists the parties in making consensual decisions. <br />Lederach (1984) describes other mediation models in Hispanic <br />culture such as the Tribunal de las Aguas (water courts) in <br />Spain. <br />Mediation is also utilized in Africa, where the moot court <br />is a common means for neighbors to resolve disputes (Gulliver, <br />1971). Mediated settlement is also practiced in some Arab vil- <br />lages in Jordan (Antoun, 1972). <br />In Melanesia, the Tolai villages in New Britain each have a <br />counselor and committee that meet regularly to hear disputes <br />(Epstein, 1971). The role of the counselor and committee is to <br />"maintain conditions for orderly debate and freedom of argu- <br />ment by the disputants and anyone else who wishes to express <br />opinion" (Gulliver, 1979, p. 27). The process is both a "mode <br />of adjudication" and a "settlement by consensus" of the parties <br />(Epstein, 1971, p. 168). <br />Mediation also has a long history in the American colonies <br />