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Original Articles

Waging Peace through Improvisational Action: Track-Two Diplomacy in the Sudan-Uganda Conflict

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Pages 349-369 | Published online: 30 Aug 2010
 

Abstract

In 1999 former President Carter and The Carter Center (TCC) negotiated the Nairobi Agreement restoring diplomatic relations between Sudan and Uganda. This study examined the track-two diplomatic activities undertaken by TCC to implement the Nairobi Agreement from 2000 to 2004. We seek to stimulate new thinking about the communicative dimensions of peacemaking in complicated hostile environments. Based on our analysis of TCC's involvement in the peace implementation process in Sudan and Uganda, we found that the implementation of a peace agreement required significant use of improvisational action, which was displayed in six ways: (a) organizational renewal, (b) reworking precomposed materials, (c) acting on uncharted ground, (d) orchestrating activities of multiple organizations, (e) negation of past practices, and (f) organizationally mandated.

Notes

Guinea Worm disease is a water-borne illness acquired by drinking water containing guinea worm eggs. The eggs enter the person's digestive tract, hatch and then exit the body causing bloody sores, extreme pain, and sometimes permanent disability and even death.

The three members of the Sudanese Military Intelligence signed their consent forms with XXX for their last names in order to avoid revealing their identities.

People of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan who are organized into chiefdoms under the leadership of a Rwot.

Track one-and-a-half diplomacy combines formal (Track One) and informal (Track Two) channels of communication (see Mapendere, Citation2000, Citation2006; Nan, Citation2003, Citation2005).

UNICEF had attempted to repatriate 300 LRA escapees by returning them to Uganda. Ugandan officials refused to accept them because of questionable documentation.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael J. Papa

Michael J. Papa, Department of Communication and Dramatic Arts, Central Michigan University

Jeffrey Mapendere

Jeffrey Mapendere, Department of Political Affairs, United Nations

Patrick J. Dillon

Patrick J. Dillon, Department of Communication, University of South Florida.

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