The Success-Failure Anxiety in Conflict Resolution: Between Law, Narrative and Field Building

The paper discusses success as a managerial notion, on the basis of efficiency measures and consequential thinking, and contrasts it with success as a more procedural internal notion within the second generation of conflict resolution. The appeal to success in the conflict resolution field is considered as based originally on efficiency and effectiveness, while implicitly inspired by philosophical principles and moral values. Later, when new models based on identity and relationship emerged, more explicit emphasis on process and internal validity became part of the definition of success. The paper describes the particular anxiety of aspiring for consequential success in the realm of law. It also offers a model to evaluate success while assuming its open-ended and complex nature. Defining success from within a context many times helps to capture more deeply the phenomenon of conflict resolution intervention.