2 Peaceful (Diplomatic) Means

1. Negotiation: the parties' direct settlement — the system's workhorse (the treaty's own dispute clauses usually begin here; Nepal's practice: the border and trade talks' generations — the Nepal–India Joint Commissions' machinery). Merits: consent's purity, flexibility, privacy; limits: power asymmetry's shadow, the deadlock of positions — hence the escalation ladder.2. Good offices: a third party brings the parties together — offers its services, arranges the meeting, smooths the atmosphere — but does not itself participate in the substance or propose terms (the UN Secretary-General's classic instrument; the Secretary-General's "good offices" practice — Nepal a consumer in the transitional era's facilitation: the 2006 peace process's UN role (UNMIN's political mission)); exit: the moment talks begin, the intermediary withdraws.3. Mediation: the third party's participation in the substance — proposes terms, drafts the settlement, brokers the compromise (the mediation continuum: from facilitation to full proposal power); consent remains sovereign (the proposal binds only on acceptance). Examples: the superpower and regional mediations of the era's conflicts; the Qatar/Turkey channels; the Pope's and Algeria's modern brokerages; meditation versus good offices — the exam'sone-line distinction: presence in the substance's room.4. Inquiry (enquiry): the facts-first device — a commission of inquiry to determine the disputed facts, defusing the dispute's factual core so law or diplomacy can work on the residue; the Dogger Bank incident (1904) — the…