International Negotiation

International negotiation requires the ability to meet special challenges and deal with the unknown. Even those experienced in cross-cultural communication can sometimes work against their own best interests during international negotiations. Skilled business negotiators know how to analyze each situation, set up negotiations in ways that are advantageous for their side, cope with cultural differences, deal with foreign bureaucracies, and manage the international negotiation process to reach a deal.

The Program on Negotiation notes that in any international negotiation, several critical tactics should be considered:

  1. Research your counterpart’s background and experience.
  2. Enlist an adviser from your counterpart’s culture.
  3. Pay close attention to unfolding negotiation dynamics.

Researchers have confirmed a relationship between national culture and negotiation style and success. An ongoing project sponsored by Northwestern University’s Dispute Resolution Research Center is exploring the link between process and outcomes—specifically, how cultural tendencies lead to certain process choices, which, in turn, can lead to better or worse negotiation results.

For example, while conventional wisdom tends to hold that there’s strength in numbers, some cultures may dislike being faced with a sizeable negotiating team, poisoning the negotiations right from the start.

At the same time, diplomatic negotiations, such as those between the U.S. and Iran over nuclear capabilities, can be quite different from business negotiations. For example, it’s critical to maintain a reputation for impartiality, and to be aware how your international goals potentially interact and contradict, so you can establish a consistent stance in your relations with groups you are trying to woo.

Finally, due to the enormous influence of China in today’s world markets, PON offers numerous insights into Chinese negotiation styles, which include a strong emphasis on relationships, a lack of interest in ironclad contracts, a slow dealmaking process, and widespread opportunism.

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Law, Security, and Technology in the 21st Century

PON Staff   •  01/27/2012   •  Filed in International Negotiation

With two Harvard Law School graduates potentially running against each other in the 2012 U.S. presidential contest, you do not have to look far to spot the links between Washington, D.C. and the law school. Katie Bacon of the Harvard Law Bulletin discusses such ties in her article “Double Strength” featured here in the Winter … Read Law, Security, and Technology in the 21st Century

Religious fundamentalism in Palestine and Israel and its impact on women

PON Staff   •  01/24/2012   •  Filed in International Negotiation, Middle East Negotiation Initiatives, Student Events, The Kelman Seminar

“Religious Fundamentalism in Palestine and Israel
and its Impact on Women”
with

Laila Atshan
Mason Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government
and psychologist in Palestine
and
Dina Kraft
Free lance journalist based in Tel Aviv, Israel and Nieman Fellow 
 
Date: Monday, January 30, 2012
Time: 4:00-6:00 PM
Where: Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Knafel Building North, 1737 Cambridge Street, Room N-262 (Bowie Vernon Room).
Contact Chair: Donna … Learn More About This Program

Daniel Shapiro receives award for his innovative work on identity-based conflict

PON Staff   •  01/12/2012   •  Filed in International Negotiation, News

Harvard psychologist and PON affiliated faculty member, Daniel L. Shapiro, Ph.D., has been awarded the highly competitive Otto Klineberg Intercultural and International Relations Award by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI).  SPSSI recently announced the award in recognition of his article, “Relational Identity Theory: A Systematic Approach for Transforming the Emotional … Learn More About This Program

Mnookin featured as a distinguished speaker in Israel

PON Staff   •  12/21/2011   •  Filed in International Negotiation, Middle East Negotiation Initiatives

In December 2011, Professor Robert Mnookin, Chair of the Program on Negotiation, was invited by Daniel Shapiro, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, to speak on the topic of his recent book: Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate and When to Fight. Part of a series on “Distinguished American Speakers, ” the event was held in … Learn More About This Program

Former Ambassador Holbrooke recalled details of a tough negotiation

PON Staff   •  12/02/2011   •  Filed in International Negotiation

Former Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was awarded the Program on Negotiation’s Great Negotiator Award in 2004. In remarks given during the award ceremony, he shared his recollections of an “incredibly intense” Christmas Eve negotiation in 1999. The United States owed the United Nations almost 1.5 billion dollars. The UN was about to take away the right … Learn More About This Program

Militias in Northern Ireland: Guiding Combatants from Violence to Politics

PON Staff   •  11/04/2011   •  Filed in International Negotiation, Negotiation and Nonviolent Action, Student Events

PON Brown Bag Lunch Series Presents:
Militias in Northern Ireland:

Guiding Combatants from Violence to Politics
with Rev. Dr. Gary Mason

When: Friday, November 4
Time: 12:00 — 1:30 p.m.
Where: Pound Hall, Room 108 (Baker), Harvard Law School Campus
Please bring your lunch. Drinks and desserts provided.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Rev. Dr. Gary Mason has spent 24 years as a Methodist pastor in … Learn More About This Program

Further reading on “Israel’s Prisoner Exchange: An Irrational Trade?” from the January 2012 issue of the Negotiation newsletter

PON Staff   •  11/03/2011   •  Filed in International Negotiation, Middle East Negotiation Initiatives

Read more on “Israel’s Prisoner Exchange: An Irrational Trade?” from the January 2012 issue of the Negotiation newsletter in the following two articles:

Israel’s Deals with the Devils

By: Robert Mnookin

The Shalit Deal: Opportunities for Negotiators

By: Dr. Ehud Eiran

Learn More About This Program

The Shalit Deal: Opportunities for Negotiators

PON Staff   •  11/03/2011   •  Filed in International Negotiation, Middle East Negotiation Initiatives

Last weekend’s violent deal between Israel and Islamic Jihad In Gaza was interpreted by some as proof that the Gilead Shalit prisoner exchange compromised Israeli security. Beyond these recent events it is indeed clear, as Professor Robert H. Mnookin and others warned, that the Shalit deal generated numerous risks for Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and … Read The Shalit Deal: Opportunities for Negotiators

Beyond diplomacy: Embedding peace and conflict transformation processes in Nepal and Lebanon

PON Staff   •  11/02/2011   •  Filed in International Negotiation, Student Events, The Kelman Seminar

“Beyond diplomacy:  Embedding peace and conflict transformation processes in Nepal and Lebanon”

 with

Jeff Seul
Chairman, Peace Appeal Foundation
and

Martin Wahlisch
International Lawyer and Researcher, Common Space Initiative (Beirut) 
 
Date: November 8, 2011
Time: 4:00-6:00 PM
Where: Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
1737 Cambridge Street, Room K-354, Cambridge MA
Contact Chair: Donna Hicks (dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu).

Speaker Bios
Jeff Seul, Chairman of the Peace Appeal Foundation, is a partner in … Learn More About This Program

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