OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions
Diplomacy Dialogue is a branch of the Centre for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development (CSEND), a non-profit R&D organization based in Geneva, Switzerland since 1993 and accredited by the United Nations Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC).
The mission of Diplomacy Dialogue is to facilitate contacts and exchanges amongst state and non-state actors, i.e., diplomatic actors representing countries (Ministry of Foreign Affairs or other ministries), enterprises (public or private sector), and civil society organisations. Policy dialogues are convened to address subjects concerning global governance, poverty reduction & equitable development and resolution of war and conflicts, may they be commercial, economic, communal or political. The aim is through constructive dialogue amongst stakeholders and collaborative confidence building measures to attain conflict resolution and sustainable development
Raymond Saner is co-founder of CSEND and the director of CSEND’s Diplomacy Dialogue branch. He is Titular Professor in Organisation and International Management (University of Basle) and Visiting Professor at Sciences Po, Paris (Master in Public Affairs). He has pioneered the field of business diplomacy and contributes to the study of multi-stakeholder diplomacy within the field of diplomacy.
His research and consulting focuses on conflict studies and international negotiations at bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral levels in the field of armed conflict (ICRC), trade (WTO), employment and poverty reduction (ILO, PRSP), and Human and Social Capital development in the educational sector (GATS/ES/WTO and OECD).
His recent research focuses on the use of Private Military and Security Companies by Governments, International Organisations and Multinational Enterprises see: Raymond Saner (2015); “Private Military and Security Companies: Industry-Led Self-Regulatory Initiatives versus State-Led Containment Strategy.” The publication explains how recent self-regulatory guidelines have been created by private military and security companies (PMSCs) in order to deter calls for stricter regulations of the industry. This “battle of influence” over the regulation of the use of force, leads to rising tensions between stakeholders who form coalitions consisting of states, PMSCs, and civil society actors on either side of the regulation cleavage. The paper calls for new measures that continue to build on IHL and the Geneva Conventions, but that go beyond the current regulatory positions of existing international initiatives.
Lichia Yiu is co-founder of CSEND. She is born in Taipei, Swiss citizen, and holds a doctorate in psychology from Indiana University.
Dr. Yiu has over 20 years of experience as an advisor to governments and international organisations on organisational development and reform of public administration. She directed bilateral Swiss projects in China and Slovenia to support the public administrative reform and currently advised governments on the question of quality of education and human capital investment.
Ida Manton is a trainer and researcher in the field of negotiations. Currently lives between Skopje and Prague and teaches International Negotiations, Diplomacy and Contemporary practice at various Diplomatic Academies, Institutes, Organizations and Universities throughout Europe. She has trained diplomats, government officials, businessmen and students in negotiation processes, mediation and conflict resolution.
Mrs. Manton has a Master degree in Diplomacy and International Relations from Leiden University and Clingendael in The Netherlands. Her professional engagement includes work in International Organizations (Peace Corps, NATO, OSCE) in the fields of languages, culture, democratization, minority rights, public relations and decentralization.
She has worked for the OSCE in the Missions in Skopje and Kosovo in the areas of Press and Public information, democratization, decentralization and minority rights. She has done a Research-in-Residence Programme with the Prague Office and is currently working with a few OSCE Missions and conducts trainings in multiparty negotiations and mediation, as well as Model OSCE. Last year her academic focus was on the 40th anniversary of HFA, for which she organized a few events and wrote a simulation of the Helsinki process.
