Shifting Grounds of Conflict and Peacebuilding

Ambassador John W. McDonald is a lawyer, diplomat, former international civil servant, development expert, peacebuilder, and the co-founder and chairman of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy.Noa Zanolli is an educator, cultural anthropologist, and mediator. She has held positions in the Swiss government, Agency for Development and Cooperation, as well as in the International Department of the Swiss Red Cross, and was the director of education and research at the Iowa Peace Institute

Ambassador John W. McDonald is widely credited as a founding father of the emerging field of multi-track diplomacy, which shares responsibility for a radical drop in the level of political violence globally over the last 20 years. This book reveals the extraordinary details of a 60-year career that serves as a shining example of what it is possible for us to accomplish through multi-track diplomacy. His life shows that it is the commitment and imagination of individuals and small groups working in and across government, civil society, and private sectors, as well as across religious and secular, cultural, national, ethnic, and gender divides, bottom-up as well as top-down, that create the spark needed for transformative social change at all levels and sustainable peace for a small planet.

• Chapter 1 Table of ContentsChapter 2 List of IllustrationsChapter 3 PrefaceChapter 4 AcknowledgmentsChapter 5 1. Earliest Beginnings, 1922-1946Chapter 6 2. In Postwar Germant and France, 1947-1954Chapter 7 3. Developing a Global Perspective: Washington, D.C., 1954-1959Chapter 8 4. Working in Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan, 1959-1962Chapter 9 5. Posted in Egypt, 1963-1966Chapter 10 6. The National War College: Washington, D.C., 1966-1967Chapter 11 7. Getting Involved in the UN System, 1967-1974Chapter 12 8. Deputy Director-General at the International Labour Organization: Geneva, 1974-1978Chapter 13 9. Special Assignments in the State Department's Bureau of International Organization Affairs: Washington, D.C., 1978-1983Chapter 14 10. Exploring Track Two, Retirement, and a New Beginning: Washington, D.C., 1983-1988Chapter 15 11. President of the Iowa Peace Institute: Grinnell, Iowa, 1989-1991Chapter 16 12. The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy—Creation and Early Years: Washington, D.C., 1992-2000Chapter 17 13. More about IMTD Projects—Patience, Perseverence, and Optimism: Arlington (Rosslyn), Virginia, 2000-2007Chapter 18 14. IMTD's New Initiatives, 2007Chapter 19 15. Assessing the State of the World Today (2008)Chapter 20 Appendix 1: Publications by Ambassador John W. McDonaldChapter 21 Appendix 2: Ambassador John W. McDonald's Major Awards and Career DistinctionsChapter 22 Appendix 3: Ambassodor John W. McDonald's Board of Directors Memberships in Not-for-Profit Organizations and Academic Institutions (2008)Chapter 23 IndexChapter 24 About Noa Zanolli