Restarting Track II Diplomacy in Intractable Conflicts: How Psychoanalytic Concepts May Be Relevant.

Since the 1980s, psychiatrists, psychologists, and diplomats have proposed psychoanalytic theories to inform peacemaking in international relations through Track II negotiations, defined as unofficial meetings among influential stakeholders with access to government policymakers. These contributions have focused on initiating or maintaining Track II negotiations (Aggarwal et al., 2023). In this article, we apply psychoanalytic concepts to the problem of restarting negotiations that have previously failed. This study introduces theories based on a dialogue that a cultural psychiatrist trained in South Asian Studies moderated with the past directors of India's and Pakistan's foreign intelligence agencies to consider how both countries could recommence negotiations. The two former directors have participated together in five Track II initiatives between India and Pakistan. All three authors reviewed best practices for addressing impediments to Track II negotiations and how Track II negotiations may be reinstituted once stalled. We did this in a far-reaching discussion devoted to the psychology of peacemaking. We introduce the theories of trust as interpersonal authenticity, the normalization of conflicts, the back channel as a process to work through diplomatic resistance, and negotiator selection criteria. Our theories and method present new ways to apply psychoanalytic concepts to diplomacy.

How Psychoanalytic Theory and Track II Diplomacy Can Inform Each Other: A Dialogue with the Former Heads of India and Pakistan's Foreign Intelligence Agencies.

Starting with Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysts have considered the psychological dimensions of peacemaking in international relations. In the 1980s, psychiatrists, psychologists, and diplomats began developing theories on Track II negotiations, defined as unofficial meetings among influential stakeholders with access to government policymakers. In recent years, psychoanalytic theory building has waned with the decline of interdisciplinary collaborations among mental health professionals and practitioners of international relations. This study seeks to revive such collaborations by analyzing the reflections of an ongoing dialogue between a cultural psychiatrist trained in South Asian studies, the former head of India's foreign intelligence agency, and the former head of Pakistan's foreign intelligence agency on applications of psychoanalytic theory to Track II initiatives. Both former heads have participated in Track II initiatives to build peace between India and Pakistan and agreed to react on the record to a systematic review of psychoanalytic theories on Track II. This article describes how our dialogue can offer new directions for theory building and the practical conduct of negotiations.