Panels:
Panel 1: Peace Mediation in a Transforming Order
This panel debates the changes in the international order that are driving a shift from norms-based to a more transactional form of peacemaking. Panellists will explore the diminishing normative consensus that historically underpinned multilateral peacemaking, and examine the emerging landscape in which security competition, relative gains, and transactionalism increasingly govern the terms of engagement. Panellists will reflect critically on the consequences for mediation design, including elite bargains, legitimacy deficits, and the erosion of inclusive frameworks, and consider how mediators should respond.
Panel 2: Gulf States in Mediation: Pathways to Strategic Cooperation
Over the past two decades, the Gulf states – particularly Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and Kuwait – have emerged to become prominent diplomatic players in regional and global mediation. This panel discussion explores the evolving mediation roles of Gulf actors. It assesses whether patterns of rivalry are giving way to strategic coordination, and what such collaboration would entail for regional and international peace efforts.
Panel 3: Mediation in an Era of Great Power Competition and Nuclear Risk
In the renewed era of great power rivalry, nuclear risks are mounting, arms control is collapsing, and policy debates focus almost exclusively on military and security options—while mediation is nearly absent from the conversation. Could mediation provide a meaningful tool to manage these rivalries, and if so, how? This roundtable brings together US, Russian, European, and Asian perspectives to assess today's great-power tensions and their implications for global security. It will explore the risks of leaving rivalry unchecked and highlight the often-overlooked role of third parties in diffusing tensions, preventing escalation, and sustaining dialogue when official channels break down.
Panel 4: What Frontline Conflicts Reveal about Mediation Practice
This panel interrogates the contradictions of mediation in environments of extreme volatility. It reflects on the challenges faced by mediators working to resolve conflicts in Palestine, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. How are they coping with the erosion of international norms and standards? How are they dealing with operational insecurity, constrained access, and the challenge of navigating proximity to violence without compromising ethical and professional standards?
Panel 5: The Future of Mediation in a Transforming Global System
This panel addresses strategic questions about the future of mediation within global peace architectures. It offers critical reflections on agency, resilience, and structural inclusion, and proposes paths for embedding local leadership in the evolving mediation ecosystem. Can international organizations develop equitable partnerships with local and regional actors across multiple mediation tracks? Can partnerships be designed to work with fragmentation, ensuring alignment of objectives while respecting diversity in approaches, actors, and priorities?
Roundtables:
Roundtable 1: Mediating in a Multipolar World - Beyond Neutrality: Legitimacy and Effectiveness (in partnership with the Middle East Council on Global Affairs)
As geopolitical divisions deepen, the role of mediation – long anchored in ideals of humanity, neutrality, and impartiality – is being fundamentally transformed. Mediators are increasingly seen not as neutral facilitators but as actors with embedded interests, allegiances, or regional stakes. Once accepted norms and mechanisms for conflict resolution are now viewed through filters of alignment and strategic calculation. This roundtable will consider how these principles can be upheld or reimagined within current constraints.
Roundtable 2: Mediation Under Fire: Protecting Peace Processes and Peacemakers
Israel's 9 September airstrike targeting Hamas political bureau leaders during negotiations in Doha highlighted the vulnerability of peace processes to direct attack and political disruption. This roundtable explores how mediation can be safeguarded amid escalating conflict and growing disregard for international law. It asks how negotiations can be shielded from military escalation and external interference, and what mechanisms can safeguard mediators, host states, and guarantors.
Roundtable 3: Peace Mediation and the Crisis of Multilateralism (in partnership with Geneva Graduate Institute)
The global architecture for peace mediation is weakening. Institutions once charged with resolving conflict – the United Nations, regional bodies, and international legal mechanisms – are now frequently paralysed, politically contested, and facing significant criticism that questions their normative legitimacy. This roundtable dialogue will examine the implications of the crisis of multilateralism for peace mediation and conflict resolution and explore how new models of diplomacy and peacebuilding might respond to these emerging challenges.
Roundtable 4: Enabling Locally Led Mediation (in partnership with Conciliation Resources)
This roundtable examines the renewed international emphasis on local leadership in mediation processes. It critically assesses whether this shift marks a substantive transformation or simply a rhetorical adaptation to external disengagement. The discussion addresses the risks of instrumentalization, the uneven distribution of resources and power, and the structural reforms required for authentic global-local partnership.
Related Document: Discussion Paper