ABSTRACT
The opposition between politics and violence is neither modern nor related to the nation-state. In every situation of human conflict, the options exist of one side imposing its will unilaterally or both sides engaging in negotiations. These options appear in micro-level relations – in the family, between friends, at work. In the past, they also appeared at the macro level of political domination when a king or emperor had the option of using an army to impose his rule or, alternatively, negotiating a compromise with local rulers. In all these micro and macro situations, the option of preventing coercion by recourse to negotiation is made possible by direct dialogue between the sides in conflict. In its modern manifestation – related to capitalism and the nation-state, and institutionalized by the democratic rules of the game – an indirect mediation of interests takes place between actors who claim to represent the groups in conflict. This indirect and symbolic form of conflict containment by representatives of the contending sides is the origin of a new form of mediation, political space, and its dynamic opening and closing.
