Waging peace through improvisational action: Track-two diplomacy in the Sudan-Uganda conflict

Michael J. Papa, Jeffrey Mapendere, Patrick J. Dillon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)349-369
Number of pages21
JournalSouthern Communication Journal
Volume75
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2010

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