Research

Dr. Mandell is currently pursuing the following research interests:

RECONCEPTUALIZING TRACK II DIPLOMACY

Track II diplomacy involves structured discussions between non-officials of conflicting parties, usually members of civil society including (but not limited to) NGOs, academics, religious groups and humanitarian organizations.  Government officials may also participate in an informal capacity.  In the short term, the process is designed to advance a mutual understanding of differing perceptions and needs, and the creation and consideration of new proposals for the development of robust, lasting relationships between key actors.  In the long term, Track II engagements create conditions for the development of a civil society with social networks that reach across traditional boundaries and thereby limit the ability of spoilers to re-ignite violence and derail early, fragile efforts at democracy-building.

Track II diplomacy has been employed with some success in generating the ideas and relationships that lead to breakthroughs in conflict resolution.  However, Track II diplomacy has traditionally been regarded as a secret process that occurs away from the public eye.  My conception of Track II diplomacy sees public conditioning as an integral component of the domestic consensus-building process.  The capacity for reconciliation and collaborative governance rests on the ability of competing groups to negotiate a “social contact” between their respective communities, creating a binding set of mutual obligations as part of an ongoing process of developing new institutions of governance.  Therefore, the development of shared institutions is as important to the pre-agreement phase of transforming intractability as it is to the post-settlement phase of implementation and peace-building.  Ultimately, the purpose of Track II diplomacy is to create frameworks for relationships among the parties which represent the genesis of plural, democratic institutions.  For this reason, Track II efforts ought to be conceived as collaborative ventures involving actors from the public, private and non-profit sectors, including stakeholders from established and “parallel” government structures; interested members of local, regional and international voluntary organizations; and representatives of industry and commercial enterprise. “Peace constituencies” must be cultivated at all levels of society, from the grassroots to the elites; unless broader social networks have the capacity to support credible peacemaking efforts undertaken by representatives, ratification of a final agreement -- with its inevitable concessions -- is unlikely.

CIVIC SCENARIO PLANNING

The Civic Scenario Planning (CSP) process has representatives invent and then consider, in depth, several varied scenarios of equally plausible futures with the objective of bringing forward surprises and unexpected leaps of understanding.  CSP aims to create a shared commitment to coexistence and institution-building by having stakeholders jointly consider the prospects for and barriers to reconciliation, while also encouraging action-oriented measures to regenerate energy and optimism at the community level.