Where We Work
One Network
Track Two’s One Network program brings together Track Two network participants from across our three primary program areas – Russia, the Middle East, and the North Pacific Rim – for multiday workshops.
These gatherings convene practitioners at the top of their respective fields who seek new approaches to their own work and a new depth of understanding regarding perceptions and conditioning within the context of individual and group dynamics.
Shared commitment to peace and collaboration through citizen diplomacy
Former Soviet States
Americans and Soviets deliver a press conference on the health promotion book exchange in Novosibirsk, Russia c. 1985
In recent years, our program with the former Soviet States has worked to understand and contextualize the complex relations between Russia and the West through conferences held in New York, Moscow, and St. Petersburg.
At these summits, Track Two seeks pathways to saner and more amicable relations, and the potential for collaboration on issues of shared concern. The Ukraine invasion in 2022 has inspired Track Two to open new doors for peace building in those fields that still hold promise for some collaboration. Science, culture as well as bridge-building within the diaspora offer hope that many years of building relationships is creating more urgent opportunities for collaboration.
Middle East
Track Two network members, including Palestinians and Israelis, and locals hiking Abraham's path through a village near Hebron c. 2014
The International Abrahamic Network (IAN), a project co-sponsored by Track Two and Esalen’s Center for Theory & Research, was founded on the notion that all peoples seek and deserve dignity and with the goal of helping to build reconciliation among Jews, Christians, and Muslims around the world. IAN focuses on the historical roots of Jewish-Christian-Muslim animosities from psychological and spiritual perspectives. It explores which historical clashes from the very beginnings of the Abrahamic relationships set the stage for the resentments, fears, and hatreds that have endured across centuries.
Participants of IAN from the Middle East and the United States work and collaborate on projects centered on peacebuilding.
North Pacific Rim
Participants attend the final Potential China conference at Esalen Insitute in Big Sur, California, USA c. 2013
In the wake of a strong push to globalize economies, climate solutions and immigration trends, the North Pacific Rim region has become more volatile and subject to conflict. Additionally China and North Korea have most recently become allies of Russia and declared the US and its allies enemies. Post Maoist China has eluded many Western governments; cultural and educational exchanges have withered as ideological and economic differences plague state to state negotiations. In this environment, people to people diplomacy offers hope when and if it becomes more active when state-to-state diplomacy cannot. Track Two began a focused effort to open doors to the North Pacific Rim in 2008 with its Potential China project. It continues to analyze circumstances for diplomacy with China, the Koreas, Japan and Indonesia through webinars and updates from our network.
Track Two has gathered journalists, educators, scientists, authors and artists from the North Pacific Rim since 2008 and formalized the program in 2018. Our goal is to improve relations between the seven nations in this northern arena (China, Russia (Far East) North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the United States) by building a network of thought leaders who connect through the transformative work Track Two has engaged in since its inception. Recognizing that many influencers and experts from China now live in the diaspora which boasts 200 million people, Track Two works with emigrees to bring connection, shared experience and best practices for activists and peace builders.