Don Carlson and Craig Comstock (eds.)
Citizen Summitry: Keeping The Peace When It Matters Too Much To Be Left To Politicians
(Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1986, 396pp.)

"Whatever you do, you need courage.  Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you you are wrong.  There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right.  To map out a course of action and follow it to an end, requires some of the same courage which a soldier needs.  Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men to win them."       Ralph Waldo Emerson

Although published in 1986 at a crucial stage of the Cold War when US-Soviet relations were deadlocked before Mikhail Gorbachev was able to start putting his reforms into practice, the approach outlined in the book remains valid although "Citizen Diplomacy" or "Track Two Initiatives" would be a better title.  Track Two are citizen-based peacemaking efforts through research, dialogue, mediation, and the development of collaborative conflict-prevention strategies and mechanisms.

Joseph Montville, a US diplomat and conflict resolution specialist was among the first to coin the term "Track Two".  The goal of the Track Two process is to communicate to official "Track One" leadership the ideas and plans evolved in the unofficial consultative work.  Track Two diplomacy also includes efforts to influence public opinion in a constructive way so that political leaders can more easily make compromises - perhaps those suggested in the Track Two dialogues.  Montville used the term Track Two to describe the sessions started in the late 1970s between Soviets and Americans at Esalen Institute at Big Sur, California.  Esalen was one of the centers for personal growth efforts and transpersonal psychotherapy, and so there were efforts there to use techniques that are effective for personal or family-centered psychotherapy for larger group conflicts.

As Frank Rubenfeld, a psychotherapist quoted by Carlson and Comstock, notes "Peace itself is not a static state. Change and development, conflict and synthesis are all part of it.  What is important is how we deal with conflicts.  If they are repressed or suppressed they will emerge later in one form or another and sour notes will sound at unexpected times and places.  If we begin to listen to ourselves, and listen to others, then the possibility of a dynamic peace or harmony arises.  Then as different notes emerge, they interact in such a way as to create a new whole, which transcends the sum of the parts."

Citizen diplomacy is the conscious effort by individuals, ad hoc groups and more structured non-governmental organizations to reduce tensions between populations or States, usually in areas where government efforts have been inadequate or deadlocked.  Thus, a major aim of citizen diplomacy is to create an atmosphere in which government negotiations are possible.

A first step is to see "the Other" as a human being with the same type of fears, aspirations and complexities that exist in ourselves or in people we know better.  As the anthropologist Robert MacIver wrote "No small part of the cruelty, oppression, miscalculation, and general mismanagement of human relations is due to the fact that in our dealings with others we do not see them as persons at all, but only as specimens or representatives of some type or other...We react to the sample instead of the real person."  Thus, as President Dwight Eisenhower said "You don't promote the cause of peace by talking only to people with whom you agree.  That is merely yes-man performance.  You have got to meet face to face the people with whom you disagree at times, to determine whether or not there is a way of working out the differences and reaching a better understanding."

Thus, Track Two diplomacy can help identify common ground that might increase both sides' gains.  Often Track Two diplomats can engage in informal, freewheeling discussions that can help identify new possibilities for official agreement.

There is also the creative use of techniques of mass communication.  The 1980s saw a number of "space bridges" - programs and dialogue by telephone conferences and TV.  More recently, the internet has become a widely-used means of world-wide communication.  As with all technology, the internet must be used creatively and in a spirit that promotes understanding.  Unfortunately, groups which preach hatred, violence and racism saw the possibilities of the internet early, and thus there are many negative sites.  This is a challenge which must be met by a wide use of the internet for positive citizen diplomacy.

There is also the possibility for those trained in meditation and the use of psychic energy to try to influence attitudes and to create flows of healing energy.  There was a public effort along these lines in England during World War Two set in motion by Wellesley Tudor Pole and the spiritual writer Dion Fortune.  Some 200 trained occultists and psychics worked to put a protective shield of subtle energy around Britain and to pray for peace.

It is possible to use meditative imagination, empathy and visualisation to participate constructively in the working of the collective psyche of a people.  We cannot know or prescribe what is best for other people or countries, but we can help to create the energy fields which can be called upon to unlock the situation and to provide healing.

The message of citizen diplomacy is that individual people acting on their own beliefs and in a cooperative way with others can alter the curve of global politics.  Citizen diplomacy, like official diplomacy, is not easy and needs training and the analysis of experiences.  However, the tensions today both within countries and between countries is such that all avenues must be used.  We need to reflect upon the possibilities for such creative action.

René Wadlow