Publications

October 2013
Teaching Note

Switzerland: Foreign Pressure and Direct Democracy

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

Keywords: Foreign Exchange Intervention; Exchange Rates; European Union; Exchange Rate Management; Bank Secrecy; Corporate Governance; International Relations; Corporate Accountability; Switzerland; Europe

August 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Gazprom (A): Energy and Strategy in Russian History

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Sogomon Tarontsi and Alexander Jorov

Critics have accused Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, of eschewing market principles in favor of the foreign policy priorities of the Russian government, ever since the energy giant cut off the supply to Ukraine in January of 2006. The purported... View Details

Keywords: History; International Relations; Trade; Energy Industry; Russia; Soviet Union; Ukraine; Europe

Educators

February 2023
Supplement

Nexus Market (B): After the Ultimatum

By: Tsedal Neeley and Jeff Huizinga

This case reveals how the situation with Nexus Market and its Ukrainian and Russian subcontractors was resolved. The conclusion to the story of a Silicon Valley start-up executive facing an ultimatum from a team of Ukrainian subcontractors to cut ties with a separate... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Technology Industry; United States; Ukraine; Russia; Europe

2012
Working Paper

Unobserved State Fragility and the Political Transfer Problem

By: Faisal Z. Ahmed and Eric Werker

Autocrats experiencing a windfall in unearned income may find it optimal to donate to other countries some of the windfall in order to make the state a less attractive prize to potential insurgents. We put forward a model that makes that prediction, as well as the... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Non-Renewable Energy; International Relations; Economics

01 Jun 2004
News

No Nukes

Often overshadowed by higher-profile conflicts, North Korea’s nuclear intentions have concerned the United States for many years. Now it is a high-stakes test of diplomacy in which China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea have joined the two past disputants in an effort... View Details

Keywords: nuclear; programs; National Security and International Affairs; National Security and International Affairs

October 2014 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Europe, Russia, and the Age of Gas Revolution

By: Rawi Abdelal, Leonardo Maugeri and Sogomon Tarontsi

The 2014 Ukraine crisis once again exposed the mutually limiting knot—a web of commercial relationships and oil and gas pipelines—that historically tied the European Union and Russia closely. In this crisis, a familiar conundrum preoccupied minds in the corridors of... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Business and Government Relations; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; European Union; Russia; Ukraine

Educators

2014
Case

Tommy Koh and the United States–Singapore Free Trade Agreement (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Laurence A. Green

This case details the efforts of Singapore Ambassador-At-Large Tommy Koh to forge a free trade agreement between Singapore and the United States following both nations' support for the initiation of negotiations on a USSFTA. Examining the various barriers and fronts of... View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; International Relations; Trade; United States; Singapore

April 2011
Course Overview Note

The Energy Business and Geopolitics: Overview

By: Noel Maurer

Keywords: Energy; Globalized Markets and Industries; International Relations; Energy Industry

01 Jun 2003
News

Leading the Charge

In the first days of military action in Iraq, with Americans unsure of what lay ahead, one commanding, symbolic image in this media–intensive war held sway: a U.S. Marine, ripping down a huge poster of Saddam Hussein in a town in southern Iraq. Those who know him... View Details

Keywords: National Security and International Affairs; National Security and International Affairs

2015
Report

The Iran Nuclear Deal: A Definitive Guide

By: Gary Samore, Graham T. Allison, Aaron Arnold, Matthew Bunn, Nicholas Burns, Shai Feldman, Chuck Freilich, Olli Heinonen, Martin B. Malin, Steven E. Miller, Payam Mohseni, Richard Nephew, Laura Rockwood, James K. Sebenius and William Tobey

This report on a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) provides a concise description of the agreement and the accompanying UN Security Council Resolution 2231. It also includes a balanced assessment of the agreement's... View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; International Relations; Iran

2015
Book

Shadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Competition for the Third World

By: Jeremy Friedman

The conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War has long been understood in a global context, but Jeremy Friedman's Shadow Cold War delves deeper into the era to examine the competition between the Soviet Union and the People's... View Details

Keywords: Competition; War; International Relations; China; United States; Soviet Union

Find at Harvard

January 2014 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Japan: Betting on Inflation?

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

The case focuses on the challenges still confronting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the end of 2013, a year after he has been in office. It also gives an overview of Japan's earlier economic performance, focusing primarily on the period after it suffered a stock market... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Easing; Debt Sustainability; International Relations; Borrowing and Debt

Educators

2012
Other Unpublished Work

Prosperity at Risk: Findings of Harvard Business School's Survey on U.S. Competitiveness

By: Michael E. Porter and Jan W. Rivkin

Keywords: Trade; International Relations; Competition; United States

Fall 2022
Article

Are the West’s Sanctions on Russia Working?

By: Rawi Abdelal and Alexandra Vacroux

Russia invaded Ukraine, first in 2014 and then again in February 2022. The United States and Europe—the West—imposed waves of sanctions on Russian individuals, firms, and the country itself. Six months into the West’s efforts to isolate Russia, it is reasonable to ask... View Details

Keywords: Russia; Sanctions; War; International Relations; Trade; Russia; Ukraine; Europe; United States

2014
Case

Tommy Koh and the United States–Singapore Free Trade Agreement (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Laurence A. Green

The efforts of Singapore Ambassador-At-Large Tommy Koh to negotiate the United States-Singapore Free Trade agreement are explored with an in-depth focus on Koh's management of various fronts of a multiparty negotiation over a sustained period. After briefly describing... View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; International Relations; Trade; United States; Singapore

March 24, 2014
Article

Like a Boss: How Corporate Negotiators Would Handle Nuclear Talks With Iran

By: James K. Sebenius

While the Obama team deserves high marks for launching the interim talks, its approach doesn't sell the upside of a comprehensive deal persuasively enough to transform more Iranian skeptics into active supporters—a necessary condition for success if there is an... View Details

September 2010
Supplement

Sherritt Goes to Cuba (B): Dealing with Political Risk Under Raul Castro

By: Aldo Musacchio and Jonathan Schlefer

Keywords: Risk Management; Government and Politics; International Relations; Cuba