When we talk about peace talks, we mean any negotiations that bring warring parties together for an agreed-upon period of time to discuss a way out of the conflict. These discussions may take the form of ceasefire agreements that simply ask both sides to suspend aggressive actions for a specific timeframe or in a specific area; or they can involve more complex political processes in which one party offers some concessions and the other accepts them.
Despite its difficulties, such an approach to peacemaking can be productive, as the example of the Good Friday Agreement of 1999 in Northern Ireland shows. However, the deal faced substantial stumbling blocks in its early years and paramilitary splinter groups opposed to it continued their violence for decades.
In the case of the Good Friday Agreement, a political process led to a power-sharing deal and a treaty that established democratic and constitutional norms in the Republic of Ireland and a demilitarized border with Northern Ireland. The agreement paved the way to a lasting peace. Other examples include Nelson Mandela’s agreement to resign as president of South Africa in return for the release of prisoners and limited land reforms and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s negotiations with Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat in 1977.
More recently, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, has been leading efforts to resolve the long-running Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Russia. But that peace process remains fragile, and he faces strong opposition from Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.
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