Track II Resource Guide
About Track II
Chigas, Diana. "Track II (Citizen) Diplomacy." 2003.
This essay details various elements, tools, and opportunities of the Track II approach. Author Diana Chigas also discusses who the Track II intermediaries are and their range of influence at the Track I and Track II levels. The essay describes which tracks are most relevant at different stages of a conflict, devoting a special section to Track 1.5. Chigas’ essay is brief but thorough and a good overview. It contains an extensive resource guide at the end for further reading.
Davies L., John, and Edward Kaufman. Second Track/Citizens’ Diplomacy: Concepts and Techniques for Conflict Transformation. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
The first chapter outlines the Track II field and discusses why it is an essential tool for responding to and resolving complex post-Cold War and ethno-political conflicts. The authors capture the power and vision of Track II, how and why it emerged, and how it fits into a multi-track diplomacy framework. The authors treat Track II as a social science that must manage the psychological dimensions of conflict in addition to political realities and nuances of personal and institutional relationships.
Lanz, David, Damiano Sguitamatti, and Matthias Siegfried. Towards Realizing the Strengths and Mitigating the Challenges of NGO Mediators: Final Report of Consultation Process. Bern, Switzerland: SwissPeace Foundation, 2009.
This UN-commissioned report details the strengths and weaknesses of the NGO mediation role. "Among other topics, it considers the unique contributions of NGO mediators as well as possibilities for collaboration and complementary action between NGOs and the UN in mediation processes."
Malek, Cate. “Citizen Diplomacy.” Conflict Resolution Information Source, 2007.
This essay provides a brief description of Track II mediation, including its tools and practitioners, and an in-depth analysis of the contributions of Track II mediation to official negotiations.
McDonald, W. John. "Guidelines for Newcomers to Track II Diplomacy." Occasional Paper Number. Washington, DC: The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, 1993.
In this must-read study guide, Ambassador McDonald covers the subject of Track II Diplomacy broadly in four phases: (1) Exploration of Self; (2) Analysis and Involvement; (3) Follow Through; (4) Disengagement and Aftermath. Each phase contains guiding principals to help the practitioner navigate the complexities and nuances of Track II mediation efforts.
Nan, Susan Allen, and Andrea Strimling. "Track I – Track II Cooperation." (2004).
"This paper reviews the historical evolution of the theory and practice of Track One – Track II cooperation; provides a brief overview of the current state of the field in the United States; and identifies key themes, lessons learned, and directions for future work." It takes a somewhat prescriptive approach.
Track II Case Studies
Agha, Hussein, Shai Feldman, Ahmad Khalidi, and Zeev Schiff. Track-II Diplomacy: Lessons from the Middle East. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003.
This book describes the role of Track II throughout the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including its seminal role surrounding the Olso Talks. The book contains a chapter that analyzes the impact of SFCG’s Track II work between Israel and Syria in 1992-93. The book spells out lessons and guidelines for Track II work, making a useful distinction between "hard" and "soft" Track II talks—dialogues aimed at increasing understanding of the other and relaying new perspectives to and from their respective governments (soft), vs. talks to hammer out agreements and understanding on sensitive issues which are difficult to discuss in official settings (hard).
Carey, Henry F., and Oliver P. Richmond.Mitigating Conflict: The Role of NGOs. New York, NY: Routledge, 2003.
Relevant Chapter: "NGO Mediation: The Carter Center," by James Larry Taulbee and Mary V. Creekmore, Jr., is a study of the Carter Center’s Track II mediatory role in the 1989 Nicaraguan election and the case of Korea during the 1990s. The Carter Center typically defines its work as track 1.5 because they often deal directly or indirectly with official leaders of conflicting states or non-state actors. This chapter shows some of the advantages and limitations of NGO mediation.
Firzduff, Mari, and Cheyanne Church. NGOs at the Table: Strategies for Influencing Policies in Areas of Conflict. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2004.
These essays cover numerous case studies in which NGOs played a successful role in shaping or influencing official policies in inter- and intra-state conflicts. The opening chapter details the history of the ascendance of NGOs to the table while acknowledging some of the criticisms of NGO involvement (e.g. NGOs can be seen as meddling or hard to hold accountable and can pave the way for the inaction of international political bodies). See: Chapter 4, Track One and a Half Diplomacy: Searching for Political Agreement in the Caucasus; Chapter 8, Multifaceted Programming: Influencing Policies in Burundi, written by Susan Collin Marks and Amr Abdalla.
Kaye, Dalia Dassa. Talking to the Enemy: Track II Diplomacy in the Middle East and South Asia. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, 2007.
The introduction to this study, entitled "Rethinking Track II Diplomacy," sets out to define Track II, the state of the field, the roles and limits of Track II dialogue, and applying Track II. Compiling many definitions of "Track II" from different sources, Kaye presents an overview of various Track II dialogues in the Middle East and South Asia, including SFCG’s Initiative for Peace and Cooperation in the Middle East.
Mirimanova, Natalia. Case Study: Lessons from South Caucasus; Mediation and Dialogue: Official and Unofficial Strands. Initiative for Peacebuilding, January 2009.
This report begins with a useful mapping of the field of mediation and dialogue—official and unofficial—examining the distinctions between the two as they relate to outcomes and timing, participants, legal enforcement of agreement, resilience, impartiality and neutrality, coercion, and the relationships between parties. The report contains a section on the opportunities for unofficial processes to compliment official ones, as well as a section on the challenges that can arise in unofficial dialogues.
United Nations Guidance for Effective Mediation
This short guide details the fundamentals of mediation as a tool of conflict resolution. It draws on the experience of high-level practitioners and contributions from a wide range of scholars on the topic of mediation.