Under PON’s Harvard Negotiation Project and its current director, Professor James Sebenius, an initiative was launched in 2009 to focus on Middle Eastern affairs, in line with HNP’s mission “to improve the theory, teaching, and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution.” The Middle East Negotiation Initiative (MENI) recently assumed a role as its own Research Project directly under PON, and PON’s Executive Committee asked Senior Fellow Shula Gilad to coordinate the transition and to consolidate the existing projects.
Today, MENI seeks to advance cutting-edge research and scholarship on key topics relating to Middle East peace and negotiations. In an effort to disseminate methodology and dispute settlement techniques and to train future negotiators, MENI faculty organize various programs, seminars, and projects related to negotiation in the Middle East, which are conducted all over the world.
Lastly, the program seeks to inform members within and outside of the PON and Harvard communities of new methods and techniques which can help solve the difficult challenges in the Middle East.