This book looks at the successes and failures of mediation efforts in the former Yugoslavia. It examines the activities of the mediating entities—states and international organizations—from the perspective of mediation theory and within the context of the mediating entities' broad international and political goals. The book calls attention to two lessons: that collective mediation faces much greater obstacles than mediation by individual states, and that a mediator's priority should be saving lives, rather than aiming at other objectives, or even pursuing justice.