Terrorists at the Table: Why Negotiating Is the Only Way to Peace

Many governments claim that they will not negotiate with terrorists. Powell (The New Machiavelli) argues that governments do end up negotiating, however, if the group involved has significant support politically. Unfortunately, governments usually wait too long to start negotiations, says the author, resulting in a larger number of unnecessary deaths. Powell is currently a negotiator for an NGO (nongovernmental organization), and prior to that he was Downing Street chief of staff to former British prime minister Tony Blair, playing a major role in the peace talks with the IRA. As someone on the inside of exactly these kinds of negotiations for many years, the author creates a strong argument for how and why negotiations must be made. Powell's book is unusual because it addresses the practice of negotiating with terrorists, offering a how-to manual of sorts, from making contact with the enemy to building a channel, using a third party, and starting talks and keeping them going. The work considers negotiation successes and failures worldwide. Powell compares this process to bicycling—you might take a long time to get there, but you must keep pedaling.