Institutionalized conflict resolution: Have we come to expect too little?

Two very different contexts of the conflict resolution field - hostage negotiation and court-connected mediation - do share many similarities, particularly with regard to roles, responsibilities, and techniques. In both contexts, the emphasis is on the short-term "fix," or solution, rather than attention to the underlying reasons for a conflict and long-term societal change. This emphasis, though perhaps changing in the international relations area, permeates much of the institutionalized conflict resolution field and bears further examination by practitioners and researchers.