Author: Yaohui, Wang

Annotation: Why did most international mediators fail to resolve the conflict, but instead reached a stalemate or even increased tensions?The existing research mainly explains the success or failure of mediation from the macro dimensions of state power, mediation position and timing of intervention, ignoring the domestic political constraints of decision makers on both sides of the conflict and the key role of conflict legalization narratives in mediation.This article discusses how the narrative of the legalization of conflict constitutes the political cost of decision makers on both sides of the conflict, and how the mediator can reverse the narrative through discourse intervention, thereby promoting the peace process.The theoretical innovation of this paper lies in constructing the framework of ”reversing the narrative of the legalization of conflict", and revealing the inner logic of successful mediation from the perspective of discourse narrative.The framework believes that if the mediating country can intervene when the two parties to the conflict release the reconciliation signal, embed the negotiation into the win-win logic of “controllable risk” through the security guarantee mechanism, and use the authoritative communication platform to expand the legitimacy and influence of the reconciliation narrative, it can help both parties to the conflict to relieve the pressure of political accountability and promote substantive reconciliation.To verify this theory, this paper selects China's facilitation of the reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023 and the mediation of the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict in 2025 as cases, and uses process tracking and comparative analysis methods to test them.The research not only enriches the research on the micro-political mechanism of international mediation, but also provides useful inspiration for China to enhance its international voice in the security governance of the “Belt and Road” countries.

Keywords: International mediation; Strategic narrative; Conflict legalization narrative; Crisis management; Discourse shift

Pages in journal: 724 - 734