A SHORT HISTORY OF MEDIATION
If you’re curious about the origins of ‘mediation’ here are a few facts that might interest you.
- One of the earliest historical examples of mediation dates back to the 10th century BC and the reign of the biblical King David.
- At that time, twelve Israelite tribes co-existed that were rivals. None of these tribes was initially willing to merge its identity with the others in the interest of uniting against their common enemies.
- Because David understood these needs, he negotiated a loose form of federation with the remaining 11 tribes. That federation simultaneously protected their individual cultures while strengthening all twelve.
- It was almost 2700 years before the United States adopted federalism as a means of mediating the differences among the first states.
- Only in in the mid 1980’s did mediation become a recognized university discipline beginning with Harvard University in Boston, gradually spreading across the western world.
