On 2–3 March, CMES hosted a workshop on agonistic diplomacy to kick off the newly launched UNPEACE project led by Isabel Bramsen with researchers Katarzyna Jezierska and Lisa Strömbom. The project explores the United Nations as a space for agonistic engagement, particularly in relation to the conflict in Israel–Palestine.
The workshop brought together leading scholars and senior practitioners who contributed insights drawn from extensive experience within the UN system, including direct involvement in key diplomatic processes such as the negotiations leading up to the Oslo process. The discussions were rich and dynamic, exploring agonistic diplomacy both as a conceptual and analytical framework and through the lived realities of international diplomats with long-standing careers.
The workshop was structured around four roundtables focusing on: (1) the state of multilateralism; (2) disagreement in diplomacy; (3) multilateral spaces for addressing the Israel–Palestine conflict; and (4) the UN as a venue for addressing conflict.
The exchange of perspectives on the potential of diplomacy to address today’s turbulent geopolitical situation, alongside critical reflections on recent developments in multilateralism, provided valuable input to the UNPEACE project’s research agenda. In particular, the discussions offered concrete practical examples as well as conceptual pathways for understanding how multilateral fora can more effectively address and manage conflicts in times of high tensions and global disorder.