Ethnographic Methods in the Study of Hybrid Processes in Arbitration: The Chinese and Western Perspectives

Summary

This article asks which research tools best capture regional differences in hybrid dispute-resolution proceedings — processes such as med-arb and arb-med that combine arbitration and mediation and depart from a purely adversarial model. Placing the question within theoretical accounts of international commercial arbitration as an emerging transnational legal order, the authors argue that doctrinal analysis alone cannot explain why Chinese and Western practitioners approach such hybrids differently. They propose systematic ethnographic fieldwork combined with insights from discourse theory, suggesting that this pairing allows a richer, context-sensitive interpretation of how arbitrators and parties in different regions understand and use hybrid mechanisms.