"This collected volume presents reflections from prominent international peacemakers in the Middle East, including Jimmy Charter, Lakhdar Brahimi, Jan Eliasson, Alvaro de Soto, and others. It provides unique insights and lessons learned about diplomacy and international peace mediation practice based on real life experience. The personal stories offer a critical analysis of successful and unsuccessful peace processes, as well as the chances and limits of solving the most intractable conflicts in the region and other parts of the world. The talks in this edited volume were part of the Bill and Sally Hambrecht Distinguished Peacemakers Lecture series of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon"--
Abstract Recent years have seen the acceleration of data- and evidence-based approaches in support of peace processes, creating a renewed confidence that conflicts can be predicted, known, and resolved, based on objective information about the world. However, new technologies employed by conflict parties, stakeholders, and those who aim to make or build peace have also made peace processes less ascertainable, intelligible, and predictable. Technology can thus create both more certainty and uncertainty in (and about) peace processes. This forum article presents a first collaborative attempt to explore how the use of technology by conflict parties and peacebuilding actors influences these dynamics. We examine various fields of engagement, ranging from conflict prevention to peace mediation, peacekeeping, and longer-term peacebuilding. Our discussion engages with a variety of related activities, including predictive analysis and foresight, conflict analysis, cease-fire monitoring, early warning and early action, and problem-solving and trust-building dialogues. We suggest approaching un-certainty as a spectrum between uncertainty and certainty that can be studied across epistemic, ontological, and normative dimensions, thus inviting further academic research and policy reflection. The article is coauthored by scholars and current or former practitioners and underlines the necessity, benefits, and feasibility of research–practice exchanges on this topic.
Introduction 1-9. - Making and Keeping the Peace: Reflections on UN Experiences in the Middle East and Afghanistan 23. - Peacemaking under the United Nations Flag: Reflections on a Quarter Century of Mediations 37. - Lessons Learned from a Quarter Century of Peacemaking 53. - Crossroads of Crisis: Yarmouk, Syria, and the Predicament of the Palestinian Refugees 65. - The UN in the Middle East and the Arab Awakening 77. - Thirty Years after Camp David: A Memo to the Arab World, Israel, and the Quartet 99. - The Situation in the Middle East: A Vision for the Future 109. - Talking with Islamists: The Need for Mutual Dignity and Respect 119. - Supervising a Temporary Truce, Working for a Permanent Peace: UNTSO's Mission in the Middle East 135. - Beyond Mediation: Promoting Change and Resolving Conflict through Authentic National Dialogues 153. - Preventing and Resolving Deadly Conflict: What Have We Learned? 163. - The Public as Peacemaker: How Polling in Divided Societies Can Promote Negotiated Agreements 179. - Fostering Power-sharing and Governance in Pluralistic Societies: Lessons from Canada's Experience 189
