The Wars of Peace · Reader’s guide

Questions to carry
into the reading

Use these prompts for individual reflection, a book group, or a classroom discussion. Chapter and page references follow the first English edition.

Before you begin

Read the Author’s Note and “The Diplomat & The General.” Consider the relationship between experience and interpretation: what does a practitioner’s perspective allow a reader to see, and what questions should a reader continue to ask?

Part I · Principles and Positions

Chapters 1–2 · pp. 23–74

• How does the account of 1878 frame the book’s understanding of Qatari statecraft?
• What relationship does the book draw between Article 7 and the practice of mediation?

Part II · Gaza: A Case in Blood

Chapters 3–5 · pp. 77–140

• What makes it possible for a mediator to retain access to opposing parties?
• How does danger to the mediator change the demands of mediation?

Part III · The Global Footprint

Chapters 6–9 · pp. 143–225

• Which constraints recur across the cases, and which depend on a particular place?
• What can a smaller state offer that a larger power may struggle to provide?

Part IV · Narrative Warfare

Chapters 10–11 · pp. 229–267

• How does the public interpretation of a negotiation differ from the negotiation itself?
• Which claims in the book would you want to test against another perspective or source?

Part V · Final Reflections

Chapters 12–13 · pp. 271–301

• How should the success of mediation be judged when the result is a catastrophe that did not occur?
• Which argument changed your understanding most, and which remains unresolved?

After the last page

Return to the title. What are the “wars” involved in making peace, and who bears their costs?

Companion discussion prompts prepared for this website. They are separate from the book’s text.