Secret Diplomacy

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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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...ic Use of Multiple channels of Negotiation in Middle East Peacemaking’, 2001, A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of The Fletcher School Of Law And Diplomacy Tufts University, viewed at http://repository01.lib.tufts.edu:8080/fedora/get/tufts:UA015.012.DO.00003/bdef:TuftsPDF/getPDF on 10 April 2012 .

• 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 .

• Wanis-St. John, Anthony, 'Peace Processes, Secret Negotiations and Civil Society: Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion', International Negotiation, 13 (2008) 1–9, at http://www.aupeace.org/files/Wanis,%20Intro%20JIN%2013.1.pdf .

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