Shuttle diplomacy
Encyclopedia
In diplomacy
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...

 and international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

, shuttle diplomacy is the action of an outside party in serving as an intermediary between (or among) principals in a dispute, without direct principal-to-principal contact. Originally and usually, the process entails successive travel ("shuttling") by the intermediary, from the working location of one principal, to that of another.

The term was first applied to describe the efforts of United States Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

 Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...

, beginning November 5, 1973, which facilitated the cessation of hostilities following the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...

.

Negotiators often use shuttle diplomacy when the one or both of two principals refuses recognition
Diplomatic recognition
Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state...

 of the other prior to mutually desired negotiation
Negotiation
Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties, intended to reach an understanding, resolve point of difference, or gain advantage in outcome of dialogue, to produce an agreement upon courses of action, to bargain for individual or collective advantage, to craft outcomes to satisfy...

.

Mediator
Mediation
Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...

s have adopted the term "shuttle diplomacy" as well.

Examples

Kissinger continued to participate in shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 during the Nixon and Ford administrations (1969–1977); it resulted in the Sinai Interim Agreement
Sinai Interim Agreement
The Sinai Interim Agreement, also known as the Sinai II Agreement, was a diplomatic agreement signed by Egypt and Israel on September 4, 1975...

 (1975) and arrangements between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights (1974). The term became widespread during Kissinger's service as Secretary of State.

In a major outbreak of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

-Hezbollah fighting in 1996, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher
Warren Christopher
Warren Minor Christopher was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician. During Bill Clinton's first term as President, Christopher served as the 63rd Secretary of State. He also served as Deputy Attorney General in the Lyndon Johnson administration, and as Deputy Secretary of State in the Jimmy...

 conducted shuttle diplomacy, traveling to, among other places, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. Having persuaded the Syrians to rein in Hezbollah, Christopher achieved a cease-fire.

In 2008 Matthew Nimetz
Matthew Nimetz
Matthew Nimetz is an American diplomat.He is the United Nations Special Representative for the naming dispute between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia....

 carried out shuttle diplomacy between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 to resolve the Macedonian naming dispute
Macedonia naming dispute
A diplomatic dispute over the use of the name Macedonia has been an ongoing issue in the bilateral relations between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia since the latter became independent from former Yugoslavia in 1991...

.

Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 has carried out shuttle diplomacy, often involving Israel: Turkey was Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world
Muslim world
The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a religious sense, it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, it refers to Islamic civilization, inclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization...

, and some Arab countries (notably Syria, which has common borders with Turkey, and with Israel) have been amenable to Turkey, with its own Muslim majority population, taking that role. Another instance took place between Russia and Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 in 2008.

Proximity talks

Proximity talks are similar to Shuttle diplomacy in being a form of indirect negotiations, in being a form of indirect negotiations in which the parties do not meet each other face to face but communicate only via a mediator going back and forth and passing proposals and counter-proposals. But unlike shuttle diplomacy, where the mediator goes back and forth between rival capital cities, in proxmity talks the two parties do consent to have their negotiators in proximity to each other (for example, in two hotels at the same city), which facilitates the work of the mediator and shortens the time which he or she needs to travel back and forth.

A recent case of proximity talks involves the exchange of prisoners between Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

, carried out in October 2011 (see Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit is an Israeli – French citizen and Israel Defense Forces soldier. On 25 June 2006, he was captured inside Israel by Hamas militants in a cross-border raid via underground tunnels near the border with Gaza. The Hamas militants held him for over five years, until he was released on...

 at the conclusion of five years of indirect negotiations. As extensively published in the Israeli media - though not officially confirmed - on several crucial occasions, Israeli and Hamas negotiators were both staying in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

,in close proximity to each other, though both officially refused to talk directly to the other. Instead, Egyptian and German mediators went from one to other, passing offers and counter-offer and finally achieving an agreement without Israelis and Palestinians ever meeting each other face to face.
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