Abstract

Chile and Argentina signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship in Vatican City in 1984. The result of six years of papal mediation, this treaty marked the end of a territorial dispute with roots over a century old. A successful resolution of conflicting territorial claims was by no means guaranteed at the outset, and hostilities threatened to break out during the negotiations. Nevertheless, the Treaty of Peace and Friendship resolved territorial issues and navigation rights, and Chile and Argentina remain at peace today. Contrary to predictions based on mechanisms borrowed from a theory of mediation and peacekeeping from Smith and Stam, a biased and powerless mediator credibly facilitated the exchange of the “wrong” kind of information and, without resorting to the “right” leverage, successfully formulated a peace treaty, and the treaty remains in force nearly four decades later. The fields of history, religious studies, international relations, and diplomacy offer an interdisciplinary framework to explore and explain this unexpected result. While it is not possible to derive a general theory of mediation and conflict resolution from a single example, this case highlights the importance of confidentiality, institutional patience, information management, and flexibility as salient characteristics of the Holy See’s successful role as a weak mediator.