STUDY ABOUT THE DEGREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE MEDIATION PROCEDURE AMONG THE RESIDENTS OF RURAL COMMUNITIES IN THE SOUTH MUNTENIA DEVELOPMENT REGION, ROMANIA

Interhuman relations have experienced many moments of peace, which have favored the emergence of progress, but also moments of unrest, which have led to the emergence of tense phases. It was therefore necessary to develop measures and procedures to bring people to the table for dialogue and cooperation. The mediation procedure is a special feature of the amicable dispute settlement procedures that are alternatives to state justice. Mediation involves processes based on the parties' openness to dialogue, their mutual trust in each other and their willingness to make concessions in order to reach a mutually acceptable and lasting agreement. The main purpose of the present research is to provide a clear view on the current state of implementation of the mediation concept among the inhabitants of rural communities in the South-Muntenia Development Region. The following sociological methods were used to obtain the working information and to research them: questionnaire method, comparative analysis method and Hi-square test method. The sociological research revealed that there is still a low level of knowledge of the mediation procedure among the rural population in the study area. Interestingly, the number of men who know about the mediation procedure is significantly higher than the number of women, but the interest in the procedure is high among those who said they knew and had even used mediation by the time of the research.