Swimming against the tide: transfer from civil society consultations to track 1

ABSTRACT

This article introduces a three-phase model for evaluating transfer from civil society consultations to track 1. It applies this model to analyse how Syrian civil society has contributed to the political track in the UN-led mediation process. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted between 2019–2021, the assessment showcases how knowledge-based outcomes generated by civil society are incorporated unevenly by track-1 actors. While these outcomes set the baseline for the participation of civil society in track 1, the absence of strong mechanisms of transfer and the resistance from national delegations and countries in an already fragile negotiation preclude a substantial contribution from civil society. This article’s contribution is twofold. First, it bridges two strands of literature by showing how transfer can be used to systematically examine civil society’s contributions to peace processes. Second, it adds to the transfer literature by providing an empirical model to evaluate transfer in civil society consultations.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusion
• consultations
• civil society
• transfer
• multi-track
• Syria

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ See https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/office-special-envoy-syria-press-statement-2-february-2016-enar (Accessed June 30, 2022).

² Marika Theros and Rim Turkmani, ‘Engendering Civicness in the Syrian Peacemaking Process’, Journal of Civil Society 18, no. 2 (2022): 183–200.

³ Desirée Nilsson, ‘Anchoring the Peace: Civil Society Actors in Peace Accords and Durable Peace’, International Interactions 38, no. 2 (2012): 243–266; Camilla Orjuela, ‘Building Peace in Sri Lanka: A Role for Civil Society?’ Journal of Peace Research 40, no. 2 (2003): 195–212; Andreas T. Hirblinger and Dana M. Landau, ‘Daring to Differ? Strategies of Inclusion in Peacemaking’, Security Dialogue 51, no. 4 (2020): 305–322; Sara Hellmüller, ‘Inclusion and Performance as Sources of Legitimacy – The UN Mediation on Syria’, in Local Legitimacy and International Peacebuilding, ed. Oliver Richmond and Roger Mac Ginty (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020), 160; and Thania Paffenholz, Civil Society and Peacebuilding: Summary of Results from a Comparative Research Project (Geneva: The Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, 2009).

⁴ I refer to an increasingly accepted broader definition of Track 2. This includes diplomatic or consultative processes among groups who are not principal parties to the conflict, who may either be invited to consult in the formal peace process or be holding their consultations separately from the Track 1 process, and who are intended to contribute to a war-ending political process. Anjali K. Dayal and Agathe Christien, ‘Women’s Participation in Informal Peace Processes’, Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations 26, no. 1 (2020): 69–98; and Julia Palmiano Federer, ‘Toward a Normative Turn in Track Two Diplomacy? A Review of the Literature’, Negotiation Journal 37, no. 4 (2021): 427–450.

⁵ Thania Paffenholz, ‘Civil Society and Peace Negotiations: Beyond the Inclusion-Exclusion Dichotomy’, Negotiation Journal 30, no. 1 (2014): 69–91.

⁶ The author employs Çuhadar and Paffenholz’s broader conceptualisation of transfer. This is defined as the ‘transfer of outcomes (e.g. recommendations, proposals, positive relationships, ideas, and insights) generated in any inclusion modality to contribute to any stage of negotiations (i.e. upward transfer)’. Çuhadar and Paffenholz, ‘Transfer 2.0’, 651–670, 11.

⁷ This article is concerned with civil society consultations. For an examination on how transfer might unfold in other inclusion modalities, see Çuhadar and Paffenholz, ‘Transfer 2.0’, 651–670; Palmiano Federer, ‘Toward a Normative Turn in Track Two Diplomacy?’ 427–450; and Peter Jones, Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2015).

⁸ Çuhadar and Paffenholz, ‘Transfer 2.0’, 651–670.

⁹ Herbert Kelman, ‘Negotiations as Interactive Problem Solving’, International Negotiation 1, (1996): 99–123; Ronald J. Fisher, ‘Interactive Conflict Resolution’, in Peacemaking in International Conflict: Methods and Techniques, ed. I. William Zartman and J. Lewis Rasmussen (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1997), 239–272; Çuhadar and Paffenholz, ‘Transfer 2.0’, 651–670; Jones, Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice; and Esra Çuhadar, ‘Assessing Transfer from Track Two Diplomacy: The Cases of Water and Jerusalem’, Journal of Peace Research 46, no. 5 (2009): 641–658.

¹⁰ José Pascal Da Rocha, ‘The Changing Nature of International Mediation’, Global Policy 10 no. S2 (2019): 101–107.

¹¹ Oliver P. Richmond, ‘A Genealogy of Mediation in International Relations: From “Analogue” to “Digital” Forms of Global Justice or Managed War?’, Cooperation and Conflict 53, no. 3 (2018): 301–319; and Da Rocha, ‘The Changing Nature of International Mediation’, 101–107.

¹² J. Michael Greig, ‘Intractable Syria? Insights from the Scholarly Literature on the Failure of Mediation’, Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs 2, no. 1 (2013): 48–56; Tom H.J. Hill, ‘Kofi Annan’s Multilateral Strategy of Mediation and the Syrian Crisis: The Future of Peacemaking in a Multipolar World?’, International Negotiation 20, no. 3 (2015: 444–478); Magnus Lundgren, ‘Mediation in Syria: Initiatives, Strategies, and Obstacles, 2011–2016’, Contemporary Security Policy 37, no. 2 (2016: 273–288).

¹³ Hellmüller, ‘Inclusion and Performance as Sources of Legitimacy’, 160.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ Theros and Turkmani, ‘Engendering civicness in the Syrian peacemaking process’, 183–200; Sara Hellmüller and Marie-Joëlle Zahar, Against the Odds: Civil Society in the Intra-Syrian Talks (New York: International Peace Institute, 2018); and Zeidoun Alzoubi, ‘Syrian Civil Society during the Peace Talks in Geneva: Role and Challenges’, New England Journal of Public Policy 29, no.1 (2017): 1–4.

¹⁶ Palmiano Federer, ‘Toward a Normative Turn in Track Two Diplomacy?’ 427–450.

¹⁷ Jones, Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice; Dayal and Christien, ‘Women’s Participation in Informal Peace Processes’, 69–98; Thania Paffenholz, Nick Ross, Steven Dixon, Anna-Lena Schluchter and Jacqui True, Making Women Count-Not Just Counting Women: Assessing Women’s Inclusion and Influence on Peace Negotiations (Geneva: The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and UN Women, 2016); and Palmiano Federer, ‘Toward a Normative Turn in Track Two Diplomacy?’ 427–450.

¹⁸ Dayal and Christien, ‘Women’s Participation in Informal Peace Processes’, 69–98.

¹⁹ See note 16 above.

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ John P. Lederach, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1997).

²² See note 16 above.

²³ See note 8 above.

²⁴ Ibid.

²⁵ Jones, Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice; Ronald J. Fisher, ‘Transfer Effects from Problem-Solving Workshops to Negotiations: A Process and Outcome Model’, Negotiation Journal 36, no. 4 (2020): 441–470.

²⁶ John Burton, Conflict and Communication: The Use of Controlled Communication in International Relations (New York: The Free Press, 1969); Kelman, ‘Negotiations as Interactive Problem Solving’, 99–123; Fisher, ‘Interactive Conflict Resolution’, 239–272; Christopher Mitchell, Peacemaking and the Consultant’s Role (Westmead, UK: Gower, 1981); and Jones, Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice.

²⁷ Çuhadar, ‘Assessing Transfer from Track Two Diplomacy’, 641–658.

²⁸ Fisher, ‘Transfer Effects from Problem-Solving Workshops to Negotiations’, 441–470; and Çuhadar and Paffenholz, ‘Transfer 2.0’, 651–670.

²⁹ See note 27 above.

³⁰ Kelman, ‘Negotiations as Interactive Problem Solving’, 99–123; Çuhadar, ‘Assessing Transfer from Track Two Diplomacy, 641–658; and Fisher, ‘Interactive Conflict Resolution’, 239–272.

³¹ Paffenholz, ‘Civil Society and Peace Negotiations’, 69–91.

³² Jones, Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice; Çuhadar, ‘Assessing Transfer from Track Two Diplomacy, 641–658; Kelman, ‘Negotiations as Interactive Problem Solving’, 99–123; Christopher Mitchell, Peacemaking and the Consultant’s Role (Westmead, UK: Gower, 1981); Fisher, ‘Transfer Effects from Problem-Solving Workshops to Negotiations‘, 441–470); and Çuhadar and Paffenholz, ‘Transfer 2.0’, 651–670.

³³ Jones, Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice.

³⁴ See note 8 above.

³⁵ See https://cssrweb.org (Accessed June 12, 2022).

³⁶ Alzoubi, ‘Syrian Civil Society during the Peace Talks in Geneva’, 1–4.

³⁷ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview participant #6, 20.04.2021.

³⁸ See note 36 above.

³⁹ Hellmüller and Zahar, Against the Odds.

⁴⁰ Formats span from Geneva-based consultations, regional consultations, virtual meetings, and side-events to the EU-sponsored Conference on the Future of Syria in Brussels. https://cssrweb.org (Accessed June 23, 2023).

⁴¹ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020.

⁴² Interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #4, 22.07.2021.

⁴³ Sara Hellmüller, ‘Meaning-Making in Peace-Making: The Inclusion Norm at the Interplay between the United Nations and Civil Society in the Syrian Peace Process’, Swiss Political Science Review 26, no. 4 (2020): 384–405; Rim Turkmani and Marika Theros. A process in its own right: the Syrian Civil Society Support Room (London: London School of Economics and Political Science, 2019).

⁴⁴ By the end of 2017, intra-Syrian talks in track 1 stopped and did not resume until 2019. However, the CSSR continued meeting through a variety of formats.

⁴⁵ Interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #4, 22.07.2021; interview participant #7, 17.02.2021, interview participant #17, 25.02.2021; The author recognises the complexities in defining civil society in conflict settings. However, I use it as an analytical category to include participants who were considered as such by the UN.

⁴⁶ Interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020.

⁴⁷ Interview participant #12, 21.01.2021; interview participant #9, 09.02.2021; interview organiser #5, 03.11.21; interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020.

⁴⁸ Sara Hellmüller, ‘Meaning-Making in Peace-Making: The Inclusion Norm at the Interplay between the United Nations and Civil Society in the Syrian Peace Process’, Swiss Political Science Review 26, no. 4 (2020): 384–405.

⁴⁹ Interview participant #7, 17.02.2021; interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #4, 22.07.2021; interview participant #13, 22.03.2021, interview organiser #5, 03.11.21.

⁵⁰ Interview participant #7, 17.02.2021.

⁵¹ Interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #6, 15.09.2021; interview participant #6, 20.04.2021; interview participant #12, 21.01.2021; interview participant #7, 17.02.2021.

⁵² Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020.

⁵³ Interview organiser #4, 22.07.2021; interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020.

⁵⁴ Interview participant #14, 04.03.2021; interview participant #13, 03.22.2021; interview participant #10, 16.02.2021; interview participant #7, 17.02.2021; interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview participant #9, 09.02.2021.

⁵⁵ Interview participant #14, 04.03.2021.

⁵⁶ Interview participant #10, 16.02.2021; interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview participant #9, 09.02.2021.

⁵⁷ Interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020.

⁵⁸ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #6, 15.09.2021.

⁵⁹ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #6, 15.09.2021.

⁶⁰ Rim Turkmani and Marika Theros. A process in its own right: the Syrian Civil Society Support Room (London: London School of Economics and Political Science, 2019).

⁶¹ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #5, 03.11.21; interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021

⁶² Results were not made available to the public until 2020 when the CSSR website was launched.

⁶³ Sara Hellmüller, ‘Meaning-Making in Peace-Making: The Inclusion Norm at the Interplay between the United Nations and Civil Society in the Syrian Peace Process’, Swiss Political Science Review 26, no. 4 (2020): 384–405.

⁶⁴ Interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview participant #14, 04.03.2021; interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020.

⁶⁵ Sara Hellmüller, ‘Meaning-Making in Peace-Making: The Inclusion Norm at the Interplay between the United Nations and Civil Society in the Syrian Peace Process’, Swiss Political Science Review 26, no. 4 (2020): 384–405..

⁶⁶ See note 2 above.

⁶⁷ Interview participant #17, 25.02.2021; interview participant #7, 17.02.2021; interview participant #6, 20.04.2021; interview participant #12, 21.01.2021; interview participant #18, 02.02.2021; interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #6, 15.09.2021.

⁶⁸ Interview participant #10, 16.02.2021; interview participant #14, 04.03.2021; interview participant #11, 14.06.2021; interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021.

⁶⁹ Interview organiser #6, 15.09.2021.

⁷⁰ Interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021.

⁷¹ Interview participant #7, 17.02.2021; interview participant #11, 14.06.2021; interview participant #14, 04.03.2021; interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021.

⁷² CSSR Consultation in Geneva. Summary of meeting outcomes, January 20–24, 2020, https://cssrweb.org/en/round/geneva-consultations/ (Accessed October 4, 2021).

⁷³ The CC was launched in 2019 and is the sole political channel available in track 1 as in 2023. It consists of a 150-member body comprising 50 representatives each from the Syrian Government and opposition, along with 50 members from civil society, known as the ‘Middle Third’.

⁷⁴ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020.

⁷⁵ Rim Turkmani and Marika Theros, A process in its own right: the Syrian Civil Society Support Room (London: London School of Economics and Political Science, 2019).

⁷⁶ Fisher, ‘Transfer Effects from Problem-Solving Workshops to Negotiations’, 441–470; and Çuhadar and Paffenholz, ‘Transfer 2.0’, 651–670.

⁷⁷ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021.

⁷⁸ See https://undocs.org/S/PV.8036 and https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/united-nations-special-envoy-syria-geir-o-pedersen-briefing-security-1, consulted 21.10.21.

⁷⁹ Interview participant #7, 17.02.2021; interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview participant #12, 21.01.2021.

⁸⁰ Interview participant #7, 17.02.2021.

⁸¹ To identify advocacy tactics in these settings, I follow the typology developed by Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, ‘Transnational advocacy networks in international politics’, Perspectives on World Politics: Third Edition (2005: 190–206).

⁸² Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020

⁸³ CSSR side event on the margins of the Brussels Conference On supporting the Future of Syria and the Region – Brussels, June 25–30, 2020. Available at https://cssrweb.org/en/round/virtual-regional-consultations/ Consulted 06.10.2021.

⁸⁴ Ibid. Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview participant #10, 16.02.2021; interview participant #11, 14.06.2021.

⁸⁵ Interview opposition #2, 08.07.2022; interview opposition #1, 04.07.2022.

⁸⁶ Interview participant #10, 16.02.2021; interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview participant #7, 17.02.2021; interview participant #11, 14.06.2021; interview participant #12, 21.01.2021; interview participant #13, 03.22.2021; interview participant #20, 19.01.2021.

⁸⁷ Interview participant #7, 17.02.2021.

⁸⁸ Interview participant #9, 09.02.2021.

⁸⁹ Interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview participant #10, 16.02.2021; interview organiser #4, 22.07.2021.

⁹⁰ Interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021.

⁹¹ Interview CC/Opposition #1, 06.07.2022; interview opposition #1, 04.07.2022; interview opposition #2, 08.07.2022.

⁹² Interview CC/Opposition #1, 06.07.2022.

⁹³ Interview opposition #2, 08.07.2022.

⁹⁴ Interview participant #8, 27.01.2021.

⁹⁵ Interview participant #13, 22.03.2021; interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview participant, #7, 17.02.2021.

⁹⁶ Interview participant, #7, 17.02.2021.

⁹⁷ Aron Lund, Divided they stand: an overview of Syria’s political opposition factions (Uppsala: Olof Palmes International Center, 2012).

⁹⁸ Interview participant #8, 27.01.2021.

⁹⁹ Interview participant #8, 27.01.2021.

¹⁰⁰ Interview organiser #6, 15.09.2021; interview participant #7, 17.02.2021; interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview participant #20, 19.01.2021; interview CC/Opposition #1, 06.07.2022; interview CC/Middle Third #2, 22.06.2022; interview opposition #1, 04.07.2022.

¹⁰¹ Interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview participant #7, 17.02.2021; interview participant #20, 19.01.2021; interview participant #13, 03.22.2021.

¹⁰² Interview CC/Opposition #1, 06.07.2022.

¹⁰³ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #4, 22.07.2021; interview participant #6, 20.04.2021; interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview participant #11, 14.06.2021.

¹⁰⁴ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #4 22.07.2021; interview organiser #6, 15.09.2021; interview participant #18, 02.02.2021; interview participant #6, 20.04.2021.

¹⁰⁵ Interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021.

¹⁰⁶ Interview organiser #5, 03.11.21.

¹⁰⁷ Letter dated 26 September 2019 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council. S/2019/775. See https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/S_2019_775_E.pdf (Accessed June 30, 2020).

¹⁰⁸ Interview participant #10, 16.02.2021.

¹⁰⁹ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #6, 15.09.2021; interview organiser #4 22.07.2021; interview participant #10, 16.02.2021; interview participant #11, 14.06.2021.

¹¹⁰ Interview participant #11, 14.06.2021.

¹¹¹ Interview CC/Opposition #1, 06.07.2022.

¹¹² Interview participant #10, 16.02.2021; interview participant #6, 20.04.2021; interview participant #17, 25.02.2021; interview organiser #4 22.07.2021; interview organiser #5, 03.11.21.

¹¹³ Interview organiser #2, 21.08.2020; interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021; interview organiser #4 22.07.2021; interview participant #18, 02.02.2021; interview participant #6, 20.04.2021; interview participant #7, 17.02.2021; interview participant #12, 21.01.2021; interview participant #8, 27.01.2021; interview participant #13, 03.22.2021.

¹¹⁴ United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen Briefing to the Security Council on Syria. 25 June 2021. See https://rb.gy/nxoqlo (30.09.2021).

¹¹⁵ Interview participant #8, 27.01.2021.

¹¹⁶ Interview participant #11, 14.06.2021; interview participant #14, 04.03.2021.

¹¹⁷ Interview participant #17, 25.02.2021; interview participant #10, 16.02.2021; interview #9, 09.02.2021.

¹¹⁸ Interview organiser #3, 20.05.2021.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Universities under Grant [FPU18/04917].

Notes on contributors

Jusaima Moaid-Azm Peregrina

Jusaima Moaid-Azm Peregrina is a PhD Candidate in Social Sciences. Magister in International and European Studies, University of Granada. Political Scientist, University of Granada. Professor of Comparative Politics t. Her research focuses on peace and conflicts, processes of political change, international mediation, and women, peace, and security. She has gained a regional expertise on the Middle East, notably Syria as well as Yemen.