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ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT Small-State Mediation in International Conflicts: Diplomacy and Negotiations in Israel-Palestine, by Jacob Eriksson, 2015. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2015. 288 pages. $99.
Reviewed by Michael Schulz
In this study, Jacob Eriksson offers a thorough analysis of the substantial roles Norway and Sweden have played in official and unofficial Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. We gain new insights on the various involved actors and the rationale for their actions. Eriksson claims "While it is true that the nature and context of the conflict are the most decisive variables in determining the outcomes of mediation, the nature of the mediator and the mediation strategy pursued are nonetheless critical" (p. 2). The merits of this study are primarily reflected in its significant contribution to the relatively young field of mediation and facilitation research. Eriksson offers solid and wide-ranging theoretical input, helping enrich our understanding of the role that small-state actors can play in protracted conflicts and thereby contribute to attempts to transform them. The book is based on interviews with those involved in, and documents linked to negotiations, showing that ''A number of significant breakthroughs and positive developments have taken place, but the United States has not been directly in any of them" (p. 3).
Eriksson points to the relative importance that small states' noncoercive mediating strategies can have in changing perceptions and providing the conflict parties with alternatives to seemingly deadlocked positions on the key issues in the conflict. However, this is not to suggest that mediating actors have formulated and presented at the negotiation tables ideas on how to solve the key issues of...