Track II at IGCC
IGCC has provided ongoing leadership for preventive diplomacy and dialogue in the world’s most troubled regions through its Track II programs in the Middle East and Northeast Asia.
Track II, or unofficial diplomacy, offers a venue for officials and academics to express their views and enhance mutual understanding in an informal atmosphere. Officials participate in their personal capacity, not as representatives for their governments, and all discussions are kept off-the-record, rules that permit brainstorming and frank discussion of divergent views. The mixture of government officials and scholars contributes to the free-wheeling style of discussion.
Founded and led by IGCC Director Emeritus Susan Shirk, IGCC's Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) is a unique multilateral forum involving high-level policymakers, defense ministry officials, military officers, and researchers from China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia, and the United States. NEACD seeks to reduce the risk of military conflict in the region and to lay the groundwork for an official multilateral process in Northeast Asia. NEACD has proven its value as the only ongoing regular channel of informal communication among the six governments.
IGCC and the UCLA Center for Middle East Development (CMED) jointly conduct research and provide educational programs on matters of political, economic, and diplomatic development in the Middle East. Guided by UCLA Professor Steven Spiegel, IGCC’s Middle East programs explore issues of regional security and enable conflict resolution. Participants in the Middle East Regional Security and Cooperation Dialogues engage the Middle East’s most critical issues, enabling communication where there might otherwise be only misunderstanding.
Diplomacy & Policy
