When the third element functions as a non-partisan, we have a different variety of mediation. The non-partisan either produces the concord of two colliding parties, whereby he withdraws after making the effort of creating direct contact between the unconnected or quarreling elements; or he functions as an arbiter who balances, as it were, their contradictory claims against one another and eliminates what is incompatible in them.

DEFINE: Distinguishes two distinct roles of the non-partisan mediator: facilitating direct contact versus arbitrating conflicting claims.

Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simm…, loc. 4233