The diplomatic effectiveness of shuttle diplomacy, or, as it is otherwise called, mediated communication diplomacy, became possible thanks to the development of modern communication technologies and air transport, which allowed the intermediary to easily travel between the contracting parties.

This term was first used to describe the efforts of the 56th US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. In early 1974, Henry Kissinger began the first round of what later became known as “shuttle diplomacy” between Jerusalem and the capitals of Arab countries. His actions contributed to the cessation of hostilities in these countries after the Yom Kippur War.

The shuttle activity of Henry Kissinger began in this region and became the most successful. What contributed to this success? According to the Israeli journalist M. Golan, “The unique advantage of Kissinger during his "shuttle" operations is that he is the only one who is constantly aware of the positions of both sides. At the same time, he tells each of the parties only what is beneficial to his own goals and interests”.

Thanks to the shuttle diplomacy applied by Henry Kissinger, the two sides managed to conclude two peace agreements, one of which is on the separation of Israeli and Egyptian forces in Sinai. After the death of Nasser, as a result of Sadat's policy, Egypt left the ranks of the Arab countries participating in the resistance to Israel and took the path of a separate deal with Israel, drawn up at Camp David (USA) already with Carter. However, Kissinger also prepared the ground for this agreement.

The basic principles of shuttle diplomacy are tactical principles. These include:

Negotiations are conducted only by a mediator diplomat, the parties themselves do not interact with each other and only the diplomat has the completeness of information, independently deciding which to provide and which to keep;

Negotiations begin with a consistent clarification of the positions of the parties, their goals, values, tasks and priorities in this situation, as well as identifying points of contact between the positions of the parties;

Information is provided to the parties in the order from negative to positive, which makes it easier to reach an agreement and force the parties to "swallow the pill" of a compromise agreement;

Shuttle negotiations place high demands on the personal qualities of the negotiator, requiring him to have high analytical and synthetic abilities to build an integral system of negotiations and the distribution of roles and places of their participants, as well as the gift of persuasion.

Perhaps the most famous successful example of shuttle diplomacy was the negotiations between Israel and Egypt mediated by US President Jimmy Carter at Camp David. After three days of direct negotiations, Carter did not even hope for a quick settlement of the conflict. At times, it seemed that the negotiations had reached an impasse. However, thanks to Carter's actions, the case was moving forward. From his experience at Camp David, Carter concluded that successful negotiations involve personal and emotional elements and require creative approaches in finding ways out of deadlocks."

Having shown excellent results in the settlement of relations between Egypt and Israel, Henry Kissinger introduced the method of shuttle diplomacy to the world of politics, which has become widely used. But, despite its popularity, its use does not always help to achieve the desired goal. For example, the actions of the Russian deputy E. M. Primakov on the settlement of the Iran-Iraq contradictions through shuttle diplomacy did not bring success. It was also not possible to establish the activities of the Constitutional Committee and hold negotiations between the delegations of the official authorities and the opposition to the UN Special Envoy for Syria, G. To Pederson. The methods of shuttle diplomacy were used by A. Merkel and F. Hollande in 2015 to reach agreements on a ceasefire in the South-East of Ukraine. Despite some success, these negotiations were not able to force the parties to start implementing the Minsk agreements.

The method of “shuttle diplomacy” was also used by such diplomats as D. Owen, S. Vance, V. Churkin and others, but they failed to achieve success in this field. What exactly caused such unsuccessful attempts is not clear. Perhaps the requirements that are mandatory for “shuttle diplomacy” were not met. Either they did not have sufficient authority, or they did not inspire confidence, or they did not have professionalism. Among other things, sometimes the main requirement of this method of diplomacy – thorough preliminary preparation-was not fulfilled. All these shortcomings together played against them and prevented successful agreements.

It is worth noting once again the importance of shuttle diplomacy in the global political arena. Since the 70s of the last century and to this day, it has not lost its relevance and expediency. 

Khaitova Dildora

Master’s student, International Relations Department, UWED