This is the untold story of quiet diplomacy on some of the hottest issues and most intractable conflicts in world politics in the post-9/11 era.Winners of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize for its contributions to reducing the cold war nuclear dangers, the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs has played a behind-the-scenes role in international affairs since 1957.With the dramatic shifts in global politics at the turn of this century, this giant of science diplomacy found a renewed sense of purpose. Spearheaded by its new energetic Secretary General, Pugwash sought to reduce tensions through patient dialogue on the Iran nuclear issue, Syrian chemical weapons, resolving the Kashmir and Palestine conflicts, and talking to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Told through the many voices who have been a part of this work, this book recounts the extraordinary efforts of this little-known organization as it carved out a niche as a parallel contributor to diplomatic breakthroughs.
Poul Erik Christiansen is the Program Director of the Pugwash Conferences in Science and World Affairs, appointed in January 2025. Previously, he has worked with Pugwash in consultancy and volunteer roles since 2008. He has also worked with the Ottawa Dialogue, a similar "Track Two" organization. Both were the case studies for doctoral research, gaining his PhD (Political Science) from the University of Ottawa, Canada in 2019.Katariina Simonen is Adjunct Professor at the National Defence University (Finland) and a Visiting Researcher at the Department of World Cultures, University of Helsinki, Finland. Katariina is also a Pugwash Council Member as well as Ministerial Advisor for the Finnish Government. She has held various advisory positions in Government and in the EU and NATO. Her LLD degree is from University of Turku, Finland (2010), in the field of public international law. Her current research interests include law of armed conflict, arms control and humanitarian law.
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