Negotiating with the Devil: Inside the World of Armed Conflict Mediation

After many years in the little-known world of back-channel mediation, helping sworn adversaries to prevent, manage or resolve conflict, Pierre Hazan felt compelled to re-examine the acute practical and ethical dilemmas that affected his work in Bosnia, Ukraine, the Sahel and the Central African Republic. What is the mediators responsibility when two belligerents conclude a peace agreement to the detriment of a third? Should mediators never be party to ethnic cleansing, even if it saves lives? Is a fragile peace worth sacrificing justice foror will that sacrifice fuel another cycle of violence?

In an increasingly dystopian world, Negotiating with the Devil offers both practical guidelines and a moral compass for mediators whose field of action has transformed dramatically. We have gone from soft to hard power; from peace dividends to war in Europe; from the end of one Cold War to a new EastWest confrontation in Ukraine; from Pax Americana to a multipolar world; from the dream of an all-powerful UN to the organisations marginalisation. Against this tapestry, Hazan sheds light on the complex work of those steering peace negotiations, blending vivid first-hand observation with sharp insights into the psychology of compromise as a first step towards peace.