The aim of “The Negotiators” is to pull back the curtain on the often-secretive work of high-stakes negotiations, putting listeners “in the room” where lives, human rights and national interests hang in the balance. Because many critical global negotiations are conducted behind closed doors, “The Negotiators” offers a unique opportunity to hear the fascinating—and human—details straight from the key players involved.
Amid a global surge in political vitriol, gridlock, and increasing conflict, these illuminating conversations remind us that to truly negotiate peace, we must engage in honest, productive dialogue, bridge divides and seek mutually beneficial solutions, even in the most challenging of circumstances.
Season four, a special mini-series called “The Afghan Impasse,” explores why some of the world’s smartest and most experienced negotiators failed for 20 years to mediate a peace deal in Afghanistan. Hosted by Foreign Policy’s deputy editor Jenn Williams, each episode focuses on a different phase of the negotiation, brought to us by a veteran reporter who has spent years living and working in the region.
When we originally conceived of “The Negotiators,” we modeled it after Foreign Policy’s hit podcast “I Spy,” which features non-narrated stories from former spies. Indeed, what makes “The Negotiators” unique is the tape: many of our best episodes are non-narrated, focused on an interviewee who tells the vivid story of a high-stakes deal.
For the fourth season of the podcast we chose to focus on a single narrative arc, rather than a series of stand-alone unrelated episodes about historical negotiations. We told the tumultuous story of negotiating peace in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, through interviews with US and Afghani negotiators, citizens, diplomats and politicians. Seasoned journalists, who have lived or worked in the Afghan region for decades, brought to life stories from a country mired in complex and volatile conflict.
From a production standpoint, this season was more complicated than the previous three, as we strove to “scale up” our typical approach to a single episode, presenting a cohesive narrative arc that spanned seven compelling episodes.
In addition, while previous seasons of “The Negotiators” have focused on conflicts that were successfully resolved, the production team behind “The Afghan Impasse” specifically chose to delve into what happens when mediators are NOT able to reach an accord. While the subject matter is inherently discouraging, we strove to illuminate—through rigorous reporting and vivid, reflective narrative—important lessons about how and why negotiations often stall or fail, and how Afghanistan might forge a path forward into the future.
Overall, the most challenging part of producing “The Negotiators” is identifying negotiators who are willing to tell their stories. We ask our guests to reveal not only the tricks of their trade but the often-emotional toll their work takes on them. Encouraging these high-level experts to speak freely and at length is no easy task, but our producers have managed to do it again and again by creating a welcoming, open and curious environment where our guests feel respected and comfortable enough to share.
The season was released as a Wondery+ exclusive in May 2024 and made available to the public in August 2024 across all major podcast platforms. As of November 2024, the fourth season of “The Negotiators” had garnered 101K+ listens on FP’s feed and 9K+ listens on Wondery+ (subscriber-only). Listeners hailed from 175+ countries and territories, including Turkey, India, Nigeria, China, the U.S., Brazil, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Iraq, Kenya, and more. Season four also charted highly in Apple’s “News” category in countries around the world, ranking #35 in New Zealand, #40 in Canada, #56 in Australia, and #99 in Switzerland.
Global reception has been enthusiastic across the board; the podcast has received a number of local and international awards, including a Signal Award (Gold), a WAN-IFRA Digital Media Award, an Apex Award, an EPPY Award and several Shorty Awards. It has also received national and international press coverage and reviews. Felicia Yuwono of E-International Relations writes that the podcast is “effective in making political processes that are traditionally very exclusive and closed from the public view accessible to listeners. …Likewise, the show successfully captures the complexity of not only the negotiation processes, but also the nature of conflict” (2023).
In addition, Doha Debates, in collaboration with global education experts, has developed a guide for using “The Negotiators” in secondary classrooms, which invites learners to analyze the podcast’s examples of high-level conflicts and draw parallels with their own tough conversations.
