| Annotation |
The article is devoted to the practice of using methods of informal expert
diplomacy in peace processes. The relevance of the problem is due to the decline
in the potential of traditional diplomacy in the current geopolitical turbulence and the
protracted nature of unresolved conflicts in the post-Soviet space. The experience
of using alternative tools for establishing and maintaining contacts at the level of
experts, representatives of NGOs and the academic community of the parties,
as well as the interweaving of official and auxiliary diplomacy in the conditions of
the so-called “new internationality” requires rethinking. The purpose of the article,
which consists in summarizing the experience of “second and one-and-a-half track”
diplomacy in post-Soviet conflicts and identifying the potential of such activities
in the context of peace processes, predetermined the tasks: to analyze the world
practice of transprofessionalization of diplomacy, to give an overview of the available theoretical literature, to identify the importance of expert diplomacy in the inter-Tajik
settlement and the features of expert participation in confidence-building measures
in the Georgian-the Abkhaz conflict, as well as Azerbaijani-Armenian and Moldovan-
Transdniestrian relations. The object of the study is informal diplomacy. The subject is
the experience of transprofessionalization of diplomacy in a number of conflict cases
of the post-Soviet space. Methodology and methods of research are as follows: to
achieve the objectives of the study, a systematic approach is applied, which has
allowed a comprehensive analysis of the accumulated practice of involving experts
in conflict resolution processes, as well as general scientific methods of comparative
analysis and generalization. It is concluded that although “expert diplomacyˮ is not
an alternative to the official one and in this regard cannot replace the classical tools
traditionally used by diplomats, the auxiliary and stabilizing potential of “diplomacy of
all tracks” is quite high. |
| Key words |
conflict resolution, negotiation
process, multi-track diplomacy,
diplomacy of the “second
track”, diplomacy of the “one
and a half track”, expert
groups, working groups,
expert diplomacy, peace
process, expert seminars |
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