Facing Across Borders: The Diplomacy of Bon Voisinage

This article proposes that transfrontier diplomacy, based on what is termed a consociative model of peacemaking, can ameliorate relations not only between border communities but also between central governments and even entire societies—if several conditions are met. The first is that the nations in question must “face,” or consciously confront, one another, and thus have one another’s full diplomatic attention. The second is that their domestic political systems must be so structured as efficiently to transmit border-community perspectives to national decisionmaking centers, which in turn must keep in touch with peripheral communities. The third is that international agreements, including “good neighborhood” or bon voisinage treaties, should be concluded to bind countries legally to a regime of border cooperation. Such bilateral border agreements can be elicited and also reinforced by multilateral “frame-work” cooperation pacts that cover larger regions.