Track-Two Diplomacy & Canadian Foreign Policy: Approaches to Conflict Resolution
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2015-04
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Abstract
Government response to conflict resolution can vary. To find a solution to a
conflict a government may confer with, and take ideas from, governmental institutions
like the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), and nongovernmental
institutions, such as the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute
(CDFAI). One such response comes from diplomacy and the role that it can play in
conflict resolution. Any given sovereign state is represented internationally through the
use of diplomats. The role of an individual diplomat, as understood in conventional
terms, is to represent their state' s interests and values and to maintain state-to-state
relationships. This official diplomacy is also known as "track-one diplomacy." Track-one
efforts in conflict resolution, as suggested by Jeff Mapendere, "are facilitated or mediated
by government representatives or representatives of political institutions such as the
[United Nations] and regional groups."1 Diplomats also represent, in accordance with a
state's foreign policy, the primary and most formal avenue of a state's ability to engage in
peacemaking and conflict resolution.2 Like other professions in the political field, the
occupation of diplomat is highly institutionalized, visible and subject to media scrutiny.
Due to these very characteristics of the occupation, efforts to resolve conflict can often be
slow to evolve.
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Citation
Proctor, Kate. (2015). Track-Two Diplomacy & Canadian Foreign Policy: Approaches to Conflict Resolution ( Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.