Peace talks in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine have stalled for years and, with no ‘new beginnings’ on the horizon, many have come to expect stagnation and lack of progress in talks between the neighbors. That was until this week when Secretary of State John Kerry was successful in getting Palestinian and Israeli negotiators to sit down at the dinner table for a meal for the first time in years.
Secretary of State
The following items are tagged Secretary of State.
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School: Three Decades of Scholarship and Practice
Founded in 1983, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is a pioneer in the fields of negotiation, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution.
In commemoration of the program’s 30th anniversary this year, the Program on Negotiation is proud to present a video describing many of PON’s various educational and research activities.
According to Chair Robert Mnookin, at its core the Program on Negotiation is devoted to improving the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution.
Top 10 Negotiation Stories of 2012
Here’s a recap of some of the most interesting and challenging negotiations of 2012.
Roger D. Fisher, 1922-2012
Choosing to Help
It is the spring of 1997 and I am sitting in Pound 107 while Roger Fisher ’48, Williston Professor of Law, Emeritus, is telling a story about his serving as a weather reconnaissance pilot in World War II. As a teaching assistant for the Negotiation Workshop, I have heard the story at least a dozen times by now and feel my mind wandering. And yet, against my will, as the story reaches its crescendo and the combination punch line/negotiation issue flows from Roger’s lips, I find myself involuntarily leaning forward and, a second later, helplessly bursting into laughter. The note I jot down to myself is: “All of life is about who tells better stories.”
Yemeni Activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman to speak at Harvard
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, in partnership with The Center for Public Leadership and the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School
invites the public to an address by
Tawakkol Karman
Nobel Peace Prize Co-recipient, 2011
Yemeni Political Activist and Journalist
When: Thursday, June 7, 2012
Time: 6 p.m.
Where: Institute of Politics Forum, Harvard Kennedy School
Free and open
July 2012
Encourage information sharing.
Avoid a gender backlash effect.
“Lessons in Diplomacy: Building a Successful Negotiating Career,” our cover story, presents lessons that Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, recipient of the Great Negotiator Award 2012 from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School, shared from over the course of his long, successful career as a lawyer, campaign manager, and diplomat.
Learning from International Negotiations: The Chen Guangcheng Crisis
The Obama administration’s powers of diplomacy were put to the test in recent weeks when Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng made a dramatic escape from house arrest to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on the eve of the United States’ and China’s annual negotiations on strategic and economic issues.
Negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials involving Chen’s fate were conducted under top secrecy, at the Chinese government’s insistence. “Face is more important in Asian society than any contract,” one senior American official told the Times, emphasizing China’s need to keep the sensitive negotiations under wraps.
Team Building and Your Negotiations
During his years as George H.W. Bush’s Secretary of State, one of James A. Baker, III’s, goals was to encourage the free-market reforms that Communist Party of the Soviet Union General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev had launched in the late 1980s. One day during his tenure, a high-level Bush administration official commented in the press that Gorbachev’s efforts were sure to fail. Baker called Bush to complain. “I said, you can’t have other people pontificating about these major foreign policy matters when this is one of our goals, and it’s totally contrary to our policy,” he said. “So they cut the knees off of this particular individual, and we didn’t hear that anymore.”
Baker shared this story on March 29 while receiving the 2012 Great Negotiator Award from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School. In discussion with Harvard faculty at the Great Negotiator event, Baker elaborated on his greatest challenges as Secretary of State and shared negotiation lessons learned over the course of his long, successful career as a lawyer, campaign manager, and diplomat.
2012 Great Negotiator Award event will honor former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III on March 29th
The Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School and the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) will jointly honor former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker, III with the 2012 Great Negotiator Award on Thursday, March 29, 2012, at the Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School.
The Great Negotiator Award









