Can individual citizens serve as peacemakers and influence diplomatic relations between parties to a conflict? This book analyzes the international phenomenon of private peace entrepreneurs, citizens with no official authority who initiate channels of communication with official representatives in order to promote a resolution process. The book examines the resources and activities of private peace entrepreneurs and considers their impact on official diplomacy, exploring the conditions under which they can play an effective role in peacemaking processes. It highlights the ability of citizens to operate as influential actors in international politics in general and peace processes in particular. Combining theoretical discussion with historical analysis, it examines four cases from different conflicts: Norman Cousins and Suzanne Massie in the Cold War, Brendan Duddy in the Northern Ireland conflict, and Uri Avnery in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although the history of internal and international conflicts reveals many cases of private peace entrepreneurs, this significant phenomenon has not yet received the attention it deserves. Unofficial peace diplomacy sheds light on figures excluded from the history textbooks, offering an alternative to existing narratives.
