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Track II Diplomacy or "Backchannel Diplomacy" H Istory: Joseph V. Montville

Track II diplomacy refers to unofficial, informal communications between non-state actors, such as private citizens or civic groups, that aim to reduce tensions and foster understanding between countries or conflicting groups. It serves as a complement to official Track I diplomacy conducted by governments. One of the first major applications was the Oslo Accords of 1993 between Israel and the PLO, which began unofficially before transitioning to official talks. Track II diplomacy is now commonly used to address conflicts such as those over China's rise, Kashmir, and North Korea's nuclear program through workshops and conferences that bring opposing sides together.

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318 views4 pages

Track II Diplomacy or "Backchannel Diplomacy" H Istory: Joseph V. Montville

Track II diplomacy refers to unofficial, informal communications between non-state actors, such as private citizens or civic groups, that aim to reduce tensions and foster understanding between countries or conflicting groups. It serves as a complement to official Track I diplomacy conducted by governments. One of the first major applications was the Oslo Accords of 1993 between Israel and the PLO, which began unofficially before transitioning to official talks. Track II diplomacy is now commonly used to address conflicts such as those over China's rise, Kashmir, and North Korea's nuclear program through workshops and conferences that bring opposing sides together.

Uploaded by

vaibhavi sharma pathak
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Track II diplomacy or "backchannel diplomacy"

History

In 1981, Joseph V. Montville, then a U.S. State Department employee, coined


the phrases Track One and Track Two diplomacy in "Foreign Policy According
to Freud".

Meaning:

What:

Track One diplomacy was what diplomats did—formal negotiations between


nations conducted by professional diplomats.

track 2 diplomacy

is the practice of

- non-governmental, informal and unofficial contacts and activities

- between private citizens or groups of individuals, sometimes called 'non-


state actors'

- for reduction or resolution of conflict, within a country or between countries,

Aim:

lowering the anger or tension or fear that exists, through


improved communication and a better understanding of each other's point of
view".

Why:

- Montville emphasized that Track Two Diplomacy is not a substitute for Track
One Diplomacy, but compensates for the constraints imposed on leaders by
their people’s psychological expectations.

- Most important, Track Two Diplomacy is intended to provide a bridge or


complement official Track One negotiations.

Two basic processes

Montville maintains that there are two basic processes in track two diplomacy.
A. The first consists of facilitated workshops that bring members of conflicting
groups together to develop personal relationships, understand the conflict
from the perspective of others, and develop joint strategies for solving the
conflict.
B. The second process involves working to shift public opinion: "Here the task
is a psychological one which consists of reducing the sense of victim hood of
the parties and rehumanizing the image of the adversary

First few applications:


1 ) oslo accords
A ) One of the successful track two dialogue processes can be the Oslo
Accords of 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation
Organization(PLO), which achieved some remarkable breakthroughs in the
Israeli–Palestinian relationship.
B ) The contacts began as a track two diplomacy, with an unofficial initiative
by a Norwegian scholar, but had transitioned into track one diplomacy by the
time it was finished, finalized with a handshake between Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO head Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn.

2 ) Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue


- Another example can be the sustained Jewish-Palestinian Living Room
Dialogue Group which begun in 1992.
- From 2003 to 2007 it partnered with Camp Tawonga to bring hundreds of
adults and youth from 50 different towns in Palestine and Israel to
successfully live and communicate together at the Palestinian-Jewish Family
Peacemakers Camp

Timeline of track 2 diplomacy

Winter 1981-1982 

In Foreign Policy, Montville and Davidson, put the term “track II diplomacy” in print for the

first time. “Its underlying assumption,” they write, “is that actual or potential conflict can

be resolved or eased by appealing to common human capabilities to respond to good will

and reasonableness.”

1989 

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences hosts the first of a series of conferences

bringing together Arab and Israeli participants to discuss possible solutions to the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict. The meetings snowball into the first major effort to put Track II into

practice, laying the groundwork for the landmark 1993 Oslo Accords.
1991 

The Soviet Union collapses, leaving diplomatic institutions like the United Nations, forged in

an era of great-power conflict, poorly suited to keeping the post-Cold War peace.

Policymakers begin considering Track II diplomacy with renewed interest.

June 12, 1994 

With the United States and North Korea on the brink of a nuclear crisis, former President

Jimmy Carter journeys to Pyongyang to extract Kim Il Sung’s promise to halt his nuclear

program. “It was a triumph of Track II diplomacy,” Carter exemplifies the rise in Track II

circles of what might be called the Track 1.5 diplomat, an ex-official who meets on behalf

of his country with other nations’ officials.

September 23, 2002 

U.S. Ambassador Marc Grossman tells an audience at Foggy Bottom that “Track II

diplomacy [is] a key part of our efforts.”

2017

Once a fringe notion, Track II is now taught in 99 conflict resolution graduate programs in

American universities, and many more worldwid

Case study: Application today:

1 ) China

The Players: China, its neighbors, and the United States

The Peacemakers: the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and others

Several organizations began bringing U.S. and Chinese defense officials to the table

unofficially after tensions rose over the 1999 U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in

Belgrade and the 2001 spy-plane incident. The meetings have helped ease tensions even

as China has begun flexing its military might in the greater Pacific region.
2 ) Kashmir

The Players: India and Pakistan

The Peacemakers: The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs

The Pugwash group, a half-century-old peace organization, managed to bring together

Kashmiris of the long-running conflict for the first time in decades in 2004; a formal peace

process (if not actual peace) followed.

3 ) North Korea

The Players: China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, and the United States

The Peacemakers: The National Committee on American Foreign Policy (ncafp)

When six-party nonproliferation talks stalled in 2005, the NCAFP kept the conversation

going by convening a blue-ribbon panel of former diplomatic officials (including Henry

Kissinger) in New York that mirrored the talks themselves, only without the lofty stakes

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