Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice - Softcover

Jones, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804796246 ISBN 13: 9780804796248

Verlag: STANFORD UNIV PR, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

Track Two diplomacy consists of informal dialogues among actors such as academics, religious leaders, retired senior officials, and NGO officials that can bring new ideas and new relationships to the official process of diplomacy.

Sadly, those involved in official diplomacy often have little understanding of and appreciation for the complex and nuanced role that Track Two can play, or for its limitations. And many Track Two practitioners are often unaware of the realities and pressures of the policy and diplomatic worlds, and not particularly adept at framing their efforts to make them accessible to hard-pressed officials. At the same time, those interested in the academic study of Track Two sometimes fail to understand the realities faced by either set of practitioners.

A need therefore exists for a work to bridge the divides between these constituencies and between the different types of Track Two practice—and this book crosses disciplines and traditions in order to do just that. It explores the various dimensions and guises of Track Two, the theory and practice of how they work, and how both practitioners and academics could more profitably assess Track Two. Overall, it provides a comprehensive picture of the range of activities pursued under this title, to provoke new thinking about how these activities relate to each other, to official diplomacy, and to academe.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Peter Jones is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, and an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

Peter Jones is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, and an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

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Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice

By Peter Jones

STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2015 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8047-9624-8

Contents

Foreword, by George P. Shultz, 
Preface, 
Introduction: Why This Book, What Is It About, and Who Is It For?, 
SECTION I. In Theory, 
1. What Is Track Two Diplomacy?, 
2. Theoretical Foundations of Track Two, 
3. Where Theory Meets Practice, 
SECTION II. In Practice, 
4. On People: The Characteristics and Role of the Third Party, 
5. On Method: The Problem-Solving Workshop, 
6. On Impact: Transfer and the Evaluation of Track Two, 
Conclusion, 
Notes, 
Bibliography, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

What Is Track Two Diplomacy?

FOR A TERM WHICH IS WIDELY AND OFTEN USED IN THE field of international relations, "Track Two diplomacy" defies easy definition. This is, in some ways, a source of strength. A loosely defined concept is one which can be applicable in many situations and can evolve quickly to meet the needs of different parties in different circumstances. Those who look at Track Two through a primarily operational lens would urge us not to seek specificity at the expense of flexibility. One is after all dealing with a process which is profoundly about the interactions between people, and firm definitions which attempt to cover all aspects of such situations are likely to be constraining and therefore not useful in the real world. Others argue that the lack of a firm understanding of what Track Two is can be a potential source of weakness; absent a widely accepted definition and, more importantly, absent the rigorous empirical and intellectual standards which often accompany efforts to develop such a definition, one can struggle to understand and communicate the boundaries of accepted practice. This means that the field can be open to unrestricted experimentation and even amateurish and destructive practices. Critics and skeptics can lambaste Track Two, critiquing certain cases which may not be representative of the field in the eyes of its proponents. And it becomes difficult to further establish the credibility of the field through research and analysis when different people are studying different things.

Over the years many attempts have been made to define Track Two; the main ones will be explored in this chapter. Some attempts have focused on the specifics of the activity itself, developing from various case studies an outline of what happens in a "typical" Track Two event as a means of defining the field more generally. The problem is that no two Track Two processes are the same, and some are wildly different. Such definitions therefore may capture a specific case or two but rarely capture the array of activities which go on under this name.

Others have focused on defining who the actors in a Track Two process are as the key to defining what is happening in a larger sense. They have tried to define the roles of those who are in conflict and the roles of those who take on the task of the so-called third party which brings the protagonists together. They also study the types of people who do this. Once again, however, this approach does not yield a satisfactory, much less an all-encompassing definition of Track Two. Different Track Two processes can have very different kinds of actors. These can range from those who are entirely removed from official life, to those who are not officials but are very close to their governments, to officials themselves who are "acting in their private capacity." Moreover, the backgrounds of these individuals can vary widely in their approaches to international affairs and to world politics.

Still others have sought to define Track Two by reference to its place within the larger negotiation process, most often seeing Track Two as a form of "prenegotiation" — a set of informal talks which help the two sides get to the formal negotiating table. While useful in some ways, this definition can limit views as to when and how Track Two is useful in that it conceives of Track Two as necessarily a tool to help parties get to an official negotiating table. Often Track Two is precisely this, but sometimes it is not; sometimes Track Two projects can be underway in parallel with official negotiations. But they can also be undertaken not to complement official talks, or the prospect of them, but rather to develop alternatives to official negotiation, often at the so-called grassroots level. Finally, some have tried to define Track Two by breaking it into a variety of categories, depending on what is going on, and then speaking about each in specific terms. While satisfying to some, no typology can ever really capture the large multiplicity of cases.

With so many, often conflicting, dimensions in play, it is probably impossible to come up with a concrete explanation or definition of Track Two which will adequately cover all cases. Attempts to do so quickly degenerate into largely frustrating theoretical debates over the application of certain terms and concepts to circumstances they were never meant to cover. Moreover, the question of defining Track Two is, for some, part of broader debates over the evolution of the field of conflict resolution. What this chapter will attempt to do, therefore, is to give the reader a sense of the array of activities which go on under the rubric of "Track Two diplomacy," and also a sense of the attempts which have been made in the past to explain and define it. Such a baseline is critical for the chapters that follow, which delve into specific issues confronting the field.

The First Use of the Term

Many are surprised to learn that the term "Track Two diplomacy" was not coined until relatively recently. It is generally agreed that the term was first used by Joseph Montville, an American foreign service officer. In 1981 Montville used the term to denote unofficial conflict resolution dialogues. He defined Track Two as

unofficial, informal interaction between members of adversarial groups or nations with the goals of developing strategies, influencing public opinion, and organizing human and material resources in ways that might help resolve the conflict.

Montville was keen to persuade his diplomatic colleagues that such dialogues should be better understood by diplomatic "professionals." In looking at the growing field of conflict resolution, and the growing number of such initiatives that were going on outside the realm of official diplomacy, Montville was concerned that his fellow diplomats were in danger of missing an important development in the field of international relations. He was particularly concerned that a longstanding professional bias against nonofficial involvement in international affairs was leading his colleagues to dismiss something which was subtly changing the landscape of their profession, whether they liked it or not.

Indeed, official suspicion of individuals trying to insert themselves into "diplomacy" has a long history. One of the earliest attempts by a government to formally prevent individuals from inserting themselves into foreign relations was the Logan Act of 1799, passed by the US Congress after a private citizen, Dr. Logan, had traveled to Paris on his own to discuss US-French relations with the French government. The Logan Act reads, in part,

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: STANFORD UNIV PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0804796246
• ISBN 13: 9780804796248
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 256
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland