ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on the empirical research of the previous chapters and broader negotiation scholarship to identify a range of tactics that humanitarians can deploy to reduce their power asymmetry when negotiating with armed groups. It explores the ways in which these tactics operate, emphasizing the importance of both formal negotiation tactics as well as extra-negotiatory moves. It also cautions that these tactics are often high-risk for both humanitarians and those they seek to assist. This chapter then returns to the relationship between humanitarianism and power, demonstrating how diplomacy – humanitarian diplomacy, in particular – constitutes a critical way in which power operates within these complex negotiations, thereby offering a means through which humanitarian negotiators can reduce their weak bargaining position to realize more balanced outcomes when negotiating with armed groups. The emergence of this field constitutes a fourth dimension of diplomacy in which non-state actors have the potential to profoundly influence the conduct of international relations.
