Points to the fact that between any human subject and its object of desire, there is a mediator or model who designates the object– person, place, or thing–as desirable, attractive. When the model is beyond the reach of the subject, either because of unassailable priority in history or in stable hierarchical order, we have external mediation: the subject and the rival cannot come into conflict.
If this model inhabits the same social world as the subject as an equal, we have internal mediation, in which subject and model interact in ways that can lead to rivalry and ultimately to conflict when they desire the very same object.