In the early 1970s, Henry Kissinger was attempting to end the Yom Kippur War. And he coined this term shuttle diplomacy. And since that time, people in the field of conflict resolution have adapted the term. I'm Marlene, and I'd like to spend this tutorial talking with you about shuttle diplomacy.
So what is shuttle diplomacy? Let's define it. Shuttle diplomacy is a conflict resolution process used when parties cannot meet in person due to distance or discomfort. So the term shuttle refers to the moving back and forth between the two parties, which is what Henry Kissinger did when he was moving back and forth between the two parties in his attempt to end the war.
And what the person in the shuttle diplomacy will do is carry messages, requests, proposals, questions, very tangible things back and forth between the two parties. Now, this process might sound a bit like conciliation. You know conciliation is a process where the conciliator moves between parties in separate meeting rooms or separate buildings. But there are some differences.
First let me define conciliation for you. Conciliation is a conflict resolution process in which the conflict resolver meets privately with each party to the dispute seeking to gain concessions from each party. So it sounds very much like shuttle diplomacy, but there's one major difference. In conciliation, there is a focus on non-tangible issues as well as the tangible issues, the requests, the proposals, the tangible items.
But in conciliation, emotions, communication, all of those non-tangible things are addressed by the conciliator, whereas in a shuttle diplomacy, that's not necessarily taken into consideration. The focus is on the tangible. So shuttle diplomacy and conciliation do have in common that they work with parties in separate locations, in separate areas when it is impractical, impossible, and sometimes even potentially dangerous for them to come together.
So thank you for being part of this tutorial, and I look forward to seeing you next time.