ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the question of whether the conduct of back-channel diplomacy encompasses a public dimension. It describes a review of existing literature, showing that existing research continues to operate with the assumption that backchannel diplomatic processes occur in isolation from domestic and public interactions. The chapter focuses current understanding of backchannel diplomacy by exploring, albeit counter-intuitively, a public dimension to it. Although the international discourse of transparency and freedom has left backchannel diplomacy somewhat rhetorically side-lined, it remains an important tool tapped into by states, particularly between adversarial states attempting to mend relations. Obama attempts to paint an image of the United States as siding the Iranian people against the Iranian government. He remarks in March 2013, about two weeks after backchannel negotiations began, were less confrontational. The main topic of the Nowruz remarks was on Iran's isolation and nuclear programme.
