Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari has just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. For many of us who have worked with him, this is a long overdue honor for a diplomat who has worked quietly, and productively, to address some of the longest standing conflicts in the world, in bright contrast to the bellicose antics of members of the current administration.
2008 Nobel Peace Prize winner President Ahtisaari's style of doing business is in complete and utter contrast to the Bush style of diplomacy. He is a unassuming and soft-spoken man, who takes a thoroughly practical, yet long-term approach to conflict resolution, (or "crisis resolution" as he would call it). He is probably the antithesis of Teddy Roosevelt's "talk softly and carry a big stick" brand of diplomacy. He is famous for never departing from a low key, "soft" approach to resolving conflict; and he has never carried a big stick. But he always makes sure he has a stick that's "just the right size".
The diplomatic efforts of the United States under the current administration has been one of talk loudly, act irrationally and threateningly at every turn, and don't heistate to use the big stick, no matter how hollow and unproductive the effort. President Athisaari is a master at using the tools and levers at hand (never large or overwhelming), to apply "appropriate" pressure to move parties closer together. He is a firm believer in the "ripeness" theory of conflict resolution, sometimes things have to get worse before a problem can be resolved. But that is mitigated by his ability to use unorthodox opportunities to bring conflicting parties together.
Most Americans find him reticent, worldly, formal, and yet oddly approachable. He has an uncanny ability to calm inflammed passions and move participants towards common ground. Whether or not you admire his political views, (in Finland he's considered right-wing; in the US he'd be considered a lefty liberal with a free-market orientation), you have to admire his style and persistance in working very quietly to resolve seemingly intractable conflicts that don't get much press here in the US.
President Ahtisaari has a thorough knowledge of the politics of international institutions and uses that knowledge to forge agreements between organizations that typically are at odds. For example, he has been able to get the UN, the Bush Administration, and the EU to back his position on Kosovo...even during the height of the tension between the US and Europe during the early days of the US intervention in Iraq. There are few people who walk on this planet capable of forging working relationships between groups with such seemingly disparate political and cultural positions.
His work in Aceh brokering a peace treaty between the Indonesian government and rebel groups in Aceh helped to begin the resolution of the longest civil war in modern history. The very practical steps that he brokered (disarmament, reintegration, reduction in national government forces) were probably helped by the tsunami in December, 2004. But he was smart enough to understand that the horrific disaster presented an unusual opportunity to create a new sense of community by addressing the common needs of the population of Aceh, the rebel groups, and the government of Indonesia. His organization, the Crisis Management Initiative, based in Helsinki, has been working on different aspects of leveraging the dynamics of crisis management to create new ways to overcome barriers to community.
I would hope that this overdue acknowledgement of the Nobel Committee on the important work he has been doing over the past few decades will bring him to the attention of Obama's foreign policy transistion team. I would hope that Obama's team will reach out to President Athissari to support his current efforts in both Kosovo and Iraq. Further, President Obama would do well to enlist Ahtisaari's insights into improving both the training of US negotiators and diplomats, and our diplomatic and security agencies understanding of, and respone to, the conflict-to-development continuum.
(Truth in advertising: I am a little biased about Pres. Ahtisaari. I have had the privilege of occasionally working with him and his staff over the past decade, and am more than a little thrilled that he has been publically acknowledged to have achieved great things with his steadfast, quiet diplomacy. I suspect that the prize will ultimately go to his long-suffering wife who has stood by him given his horrendous travel schedule. She deserves it as much as he does).