LAUNCH OF CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN MEDIATION VOLUME 10

(1) First, process must serve disputants and their culture, not the other way around. Essays in this cluster examine the human architecture of peacebuilding. 

• Rachel Quek’s winning chapter titled “Peacemakers: Individuals as Mediators of International Conflicts” highlights how individual mediators—using personal credibility, timing, and influence—can redirect the trajectory of international conflicts. 
• Helene Ng’s chapter titled “Cultural Dynamics in International Mediation: Anthropological Insights for Effective Conflict Resolution” shows how anthropological and ethnographic insight  helps mediators respect cultural identity and context, and better grasp complex dynamics, thus making outcomes more culturally effective. 
• Additionally, Gauri’s chapter titled “Mediating with the Mahabharata: Investigating the Parties’ Influence on Success and Failure in Mediation” draws wisdom from the ancient Indian Sanskrit epic poem that distils a timeless truth: while mediator skill is vital, the true engine of resolution lies in the parties’ own trust, agency, and willingness to sustain peace.

(2) The second cluster examines mediation techniques and ethics and fairness in practice. 

• Chloe Lee’s chapter titled “Unravelling Neutrality: Examining Neutrality as a Core Mediation Principle in Facilitative and Evaluative Mediation Models” challenges  neutrality as an indispensable cornerstone in mediation.  She suggests discussing neutrality through concrete mediator skills suited to each case, rather than through a rigid facilitative/evaluative viewpoint. 
• Similarly, Yuxuan’s chapter titled “Advocating for the Narrative Approach to Mediation” analyses the narrative model of mediation, and how it can be responsibly used without eroding autonomy or impartiality. 
• We are also reminded through Theng Shuen’s chapter, titled “The Risk of Settlement Regret: A Critical Factor in Counsel’s Decision-Making Process?” that to prevent settlement regret, counsel must set clear expectations, equip clients to make informed choices and maintain procedural fairness along with due process. 
• Finally, Dr Emadeldien’s chapter titled “Beyond the Classroom: Mediation and the Pursuit of Justice” expands the discussion to access to justice, showing how a mediator’s influence, equitable procedures, and trauma-informed and community-based restorative practices can achieve this goal.

(3) The third and last cluster examines the institutional frameworks supporting cross-border practice. 

• Here, Meghna’s chapter titled “Two Pieces of a Puzzle: A Collaborative Reading of the Singapore Convention and the New York Convention” emphasizes that the Singapore Convention and the New York Convention can act as complementary tools when properly sequenced in tiered clauses such as in Arb-Med-Arb pathways.  She thus encourages broader ratification of the Singapore Convention so mediation can stand independently in the long run. 
• Mervyn’s chapter titled “Safeguards or Overregulation? A Dive into Mediator Standards Under the Singapore Convention” probes Article 5(1)(e) of the Singapore Convention’s standards where a court can refuse to enforce a settlement agreement if there was a serious breach by a mediator of the standard applicable. To strike the right balance between user safeguards and innovation, Mervyn proposes further refinements to “standards” to safeguard parties while preserving mediation’s flexibility. 
• Neo Win Kyi’s chapter titled “Should Third-Party Funding Be Extended to Stand-Alone Mediation?” evaluates the case for extending Third-Party Funding to stand-alone mediation and raises acute concerns, such as confidentiality, control, incentives, and ultimately calls for a careful and gradual expansion to minimize adverse effects on public policy.
• Lastly, Xin Yu’s essay titled “Charting Twin Pursuits — Reconciling the Tension Between Confidentiality as a Procedural Feature and the State’s Interest in Pursuing Transparency in Mediating Investor-State Disputes” examines a state’s considerations how the tenets of mediation supports a state’s interests in investor-state disputes.  She proposes concrete ideas to maintain a principled balance between confidentiality and transparency in such disputes to protect candour while preserving accountability to stakeholders.