| Without Conditions
Malhotra, Deepak
Foreign Affairs, September/October 2009, v88, #5, pp84-90
"Diplomacy appears ready to make a comeback. The US, after years of reluctance, is reconsidering the role of negotiation in confronting extremism and managing international conflict. India has resisted an aggressive response to the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and is open to diplomatic engagement with Pakistan over Kashmir. Participants in the six-party talks have been scrambling to decide whether, when, and how to engage North Korea since its nuclear test of May 2009. Determining the precise conditions for such talks is never easy. The cessation of violence is perhaps the most common precondition that governments evaluate when considering diplomatic engagement. But it is far from the only one. A wise foreign policy errs on the side of negotiation and removes as many impediments to diplomacy as possible. Carelessly conceived preconditions remain among the greatest barriers to achieving negotiated peace. Curtailing their use, if not discarding them altogether, would herald a new era in foreign policy -- one both more ambitious and, ultimately, more successful."
Deepak Malhotra is Associate Professor at Harvard Business School.
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A5/05-09. Posted December 1, 2009
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