The ability to communicate, negotiate and mediate is one of the most important skills for politicians and leaders. It’s also an essential skill for the world at large, a global architecture that translates power, interests and norms into stable expectations and binding commitments, allowing nations to avoid war, work together in peace, and resolve disputes peacefully.
Diplomacy embodies the notion of aurea mediocritas, the golden mean—that is, the ability to strike a balance between competing values and interests in order to achieve compromises. But the modern world is divided, and our capacity for diplomacy has never been more needed. The rise of political hyper-partisanship and abrasive confrontation has fostered a toxic climate of distrust in which people are unwilling to seek common ground or compromise—an environment that will have serious, long-term consequences for our security and prosperity.
The art of diplomacy is a vital and complex practice that is central to international relations, but it is often misunderstood. This book explores the full range of diplomatic engagement: formal, official negotiations between government representatives (track-one diplomacy) conducted by foreign affairs ministries and ambassadors; back-channel or secret conversations; summits, conferences and other high-level gatherings; and more informal, unofficial dialogues—also called “track two” or “back channel” diplomacy—that involve non-state actors like academics, former diplomats, experts, civil society representatives and others who participate in problem-solving discussions to shape ideas, test proposals and build trust—often influencing later formal negotiation. These engagements may take the form of shuttle diplomacy, in which mediators travel between conflicting parties to hold face-to-face meetings when the parties are unwilling or unable to meet directly.