What is backdoor diplomacy?

Answer 1

Back door diplomacy is basically the practice of nations to conduct politics out of the view of the public and out of the view of the international diplomatic world as required with highly sensitive foreign policy issues.

Basically when there may be a conflict and neither nation is willing to admit its own fault, the nations may use backdoor diplomacy to avoid admitting anything to the public. An example of this was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, backdoor diplomacy was practiced between the USSR and the United States. Neither nation would publically admit to being inferior to the other nation yet both nations knew any act of aggression could result in nuclear war. To save this, they entered backdoor diplomatic negotiations in order to save their nation.

Additional more up to date examples are US & Israeli relations. For example, every US president in the past five administrations has promised to move the US embassy in Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. The current president-elect Trump has also made this promise. If Trump is serious, then back door or Behind the Scenes diplomacy will need to be carried out. That's because it's a highly sensitive issue.