“NGOs Mediating Peace: Promoting Inclusion in Myanmar’s Ceasefire Negotiations” by Dr. Julia Palmiano Federer now available in Open Access
Ottawa, ON – The Ottawa Dialogue is pleased to announce the publication of NGOs Mediating Peace: Promoting Inclusion in Myanmar’s Nationwide Ceasefire Negotiations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) by Dr. Julia Palmiano Federer, Ottawa Dialogue Head of Research.
“NGOs Mediating Peace” is a compelling piece exploring the question of nongovernmental mediators promoting norms. The book builds on the author’s extensive exploration of the mediation space in Myanmar. Specifically, Dr. Palmiano Federer discusses the role of NGO mediators promoting “inclusivity” to negotiating parties in Myanmar’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) process. Grounded in empirical analysis, the book fills the research gap on the applied role of norms in mediation processes.
Dr. Palmiano Federer suggests that NGO mediators occupy a unique role in the epistemic community of mediation practice. They are “normative agents” that can “redefine entry points into the peace process and with the parties and promote their own working interpretations and definitions of inclusivity with a certain degree of success.” Yet the author also advises that norm diffusion in mediation processes can have negative consequences.
The book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners and students of peace and conflict studies. In the current tumultuous environment of rising conflicts, it will offer valuable insights to international relations enthusiasts too. “As armed conflicts become more violent and protracted and peace processes become more complex, the need to understand the role norms play in mediation processes remains imperative,” states Dr. Julia Palmiano Federer in her concluding chapter.
“NGOs Mediating Peace: Promoting Inclusion in Myanmar’s Nationwide Ceasefire Negotiations” is part of the Palgrave Macmillan series, Twenty-first Century Perspectives on War, Peace and Human Conflict, edited by Dr. Christine Cheng and Dr. John Karlsrud.
Download it for free here. Readers can also purchase a physical copy on the website.
For more information, email julia.palmianofederer@uottawa.ca