AbstractThis article challenges the convention that political-elite diplomacy should be the main instrument for coping with difficult violent conflicts. Its main argument is that a multifaceted approach to peace-making that creates equilibrium between political-elite diplomacy and public diplomacy has the greatest potential to generate a positive change in difficult situations of protracted violent conflicts where ordinary citizens are at the centre of the struggle. To demonstrate our central claim, the paper analyses three case studies that are considered to be significant cases within the realm of geopolitics and the history of modern statecraft: the Oslo Accord in the Israeli–Palestinian situation, the Dhaka negotiations that preceded the civil war between East and West Pakistan, and the Mandela–de Klerk interactions that led to a revolutionary transformation in South Africa.