Introduction
International negotiations may comprise a number of different channels during a peace process. Negotiations between states may take place in public front channels or they may be veiled to maintain secrecy of the bargaining process. This essay will look at the later and examine whether the beneficial effects of secret diplomacy can also yield negative consequences. This essay will be divided into three sections. The first section will define secret diplomacy, referred to as back channel diplomacy (BCD), and outline some of its characteristics. The discussion will outline why parties use BCD and convey the benefits and disadvantages. The second section will outline the function of BCD in two negotiation case studies. The first will look at Israel and Palestinian negotiations leading up to the Oslo Accords in 1993. The second case study will examine British negotiations with the IRA and Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland leading up to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The third and final section will evaluate the use of BCD in both cases and convey some lessons for policymakers. This essay argues that whilst BCD can be helpful in facilitating a peace process, it can be damaging if it is not managed with front channel diplomacy (FCD).
What is Back Channel Diplomacy?
Secret diplomacy, also known as ‘back channel diplomacy’ (BCD) refers to ‘official negotiations conducted in secret among the parties to a dispute or even between a party and a third party intervenor, which may complement front channels, and are potentially at variance with declared policies’ . Wanis-St. John has also described them as the ‘black markets’ of negotiation. This is because they provide a separate negotiation space away from public diplomat...
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• Wanis-St. John, Anthony, Back Channel Negotiation: Secrecy in the Middle East Peace Process, Syracuse, 2011, chapter 1, pp. 1-22.
• Wanis-St. John, Anthony, 'Back-Channel Negotiation: International Bargaining in the Shadows', Negotiation Journal, April 2006, pp.119-144, at http://www.aupeace.org/files/Wanis_BackChannelNegotiation.pdf .
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Lewicki, J. R., Barry, B., & Saunders, M. D. (2011). Essentials of negotiation (5th ed.). New
Many disagreements would arise in the negotiation process of the Camp David 2000 Summit that would eventually lead it to be unsuccessful. Disagreements such as the division of territory, the dispute over Jerusalem, Security and Refugee arrangements arose in the negotiation. Unfortunately this paper cannot explain all of the disagreement, it will mention some.
Many situations present the important synchronization of internal versus external negotiations. Many individuals have studied how each side in the negotiation is able to manage the internal opposition to agreements being negotiated. This can also be known as “on the table”, or what exactly is on the line in a heated argument. Each individual involve in an argument has a particular position to be managed, and often times own personal interests are widely expressed. This paper will expand upon the case of Fischer collecting needed funds from Smith with proposals and ideas for a manageable negotiation.
...ze one party. In addition, Bangladesh can shed light on the value of journalists and activists there who are of paramount importance to multinational companies, thus informing Niko of their culture and how they should treat reporters. Integrating a mediator into the negotiation can be helpful, especially if the mediator is an Indian executive who can serve as a representative for both parties. He/she can inform Bangladesh about how Niko helped India while informing Niko about how Bangladesh responds to business, since India and Bangladesh are neighboring countries and have a good trade relationship.
Negotiation is a fundamental process used in resolving conflicts, making business deals, and in managing working relationships with others. Negotiations occur for two reasons: (1) to resolve a problem or dispute between parties, or (2) to create something new that neither party could do on its own.
Most of the common activities in our daily life present an opportunity to negotiate, whether or not we realise it. Meta-reflecting upon my negotiation experiences during the class and other activities have led me to identify few common themes. In this assignment, the two themes I will be discussing are (1) the importance of being clear on the strategic intent and big picture thinking, and (2) the importance of managing the negotiation process through understanding the various phases and visualising negotiation as a train journey.
M. E. McGuinness (Eds.), Words Over War: Mediation and Arbitration to Prevent Deadly Conflict (pp. 293-320). New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
There are many tactics that both sides can and do use to try and get the other side to yield first, when negotiations are under way. Uni...
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Ripeness and readiness are good theory’s to explain why conflicts ends. They both show how multiple factors come into play to end a conflict. “Ripeness is not sudden, but rather a complex process of transformations in the situation, shifts in public attitudes and new perceptions and visions among decision-makers” (Rambotham, 2011: 180). The Oslo negotiations and the peace process are good examples of the readiness theory and its ease explaining the resolution of these conflicts. The Cambodian conflict poses more difficulty being explained through ripeness. When conflicts are multilateral poses a challenge to readiness theory. Adapting readiness theory
Lewicki, R. J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D. M. (2007). Essentials of Negotiation. New York: McGraw-Hill/ Irwin.
Schirch, L., Rafiee, A., & Sakhi, N. (2013). Designing a comprehensive peace process for afghanistan. United States Institute for Peace, 5-30.