Publications

SSRN

December 2014
Case

Henry A. Kissinger as Negotiator: Background and Key Accomplishments

By: James K. Sebenius and Laurence A. Green

Following a brief summary of Henry A. Kissinger's career, this case describes three of his most pivotal negotiations: the historic establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, the easing of geopolitical tension with the Soviet Union,... View Details

Educators

Article

Dealmaking Secrets from Henry Kissinger

By: James K. Sebenius

06 Jan 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Henry A. Kissinger as Negotiator: Background and Key Accomplishments

Keywords: by James Sebenius & Laurence A. Green

2018
Book

Kissinger the Negotiator: Lessons from Dealmaking at the Highest Level

By: James K. Sebenius, R. Nicholas Burns and Robert H. Mnookin (with a forward by Henry A. Kissinger)

As professors and practitioners with careers devoted to negotiation, we are often asked “Who are the world’s best negotiators? What makes them effective?” Inevitably Henry Kissinger’s name comes up as an elite, if controversial, negotiator from whom we can learn a... View Details

Keywords: History; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Personal Development and Career; Negotiation Style; United States

Spring 2018
Article

Henry Kissinger and Robert Mugabe: The Forgotten Connection via Remarkably Creative Negotiation

By: James K. Sebenius

When Robert Mugabe was forced out of office in late 2017 after 37 years of increasingly brutal rule in Zimbabwe, he had been in the job so long that few recall how he got there. Fewer still remember that it was Henry Kissinger, whose complex, if unlikely, negotiations... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; History; Negotiation Style; Outcome or Result; Zimbabwe

2016
Working Paper

Henry Kissinger's Negotiation Campaign to End the Vietnam War

By: James K. Sebenius and Eugene B. Kogan

President Richard M. Nixon was elected in 1968 with the widespread expectation that he would bring about an end to the costly and unpopular war in Vietnam. The task largely fell to National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger. When the negotiations began, North Vietnam... View Details

Keywords: Kissinger; Negotiation; Negotiation Campaign; Bargaining; Diplomacy; Coercive Diplomacy; Multiparty Negotiations; Dispute Resolution; Mediation; Negotiation Process; War; Negotiation Types; International Relations; Negotiation Deal; Viet Nam; United States

SSRN

05 Jul 2018
Book

Henry Kissinger's Lessons for Business Negotiators

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Henry Kissinger: Negotiating Black Majority Rule in Rhodesia (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Laurence A. Green

In 1976, a growing crisis in Southern Africa drew the attention of United States Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. White Rhodesian leader Ian Smith's refusal to accede to black majority rule threatened to widen into a regional conflict involving apartheid South... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Race; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Participants; Government and Politics; Africa; United States

Educators

November 2021
Article

The Nixon Doctrine and the Making of Authoritarianism in Island Southeast Asia

By: Mattias Fibiger

This article argues that the Nixon Doctrine was an instrument of authoritarianization in island Southeast Asia. It traces the formulation of the Nixon Doctrine and its implementation through foreign aid decisions, revealing that President Richard Nixon and his chief... View Details

Keywords: Diplomacy; Foreign Aid; Authoritarianism; Geopolitics; Nixon; International Relations; Policy; History; Southeast Asia; United States

September 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Supplement

Henry Kissinger: Negotiating Black Majority Rule in Rhodesia (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Laurence A. Green

In 1976, United States Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger conducted a series of intricate, multiparty negotiations in Southern Africa to persuade white Rhodesian leader Ian Smith to accede to black majority rule. Conducted near the end of President Gerald Ford’s... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Race; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Deal; Government and Politics; Africa; United States

16 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 16

in health care and their longer‐term implications for providers, payers, employers, and patients. Download working paper: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/15-041_1b93ae87-97ad-46c0-9a76-1169cdf513c2.pdf Henry A. Kissinger as... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 10, 2017

forthcoming HarperCollins Kissinger the Negotiator: Lessons from Dealmaking at the Highest Level By: Sebenius, James K., R. Nicholas Burns, and Robert H. Mnookin (with a forward by Henry A. Kissinger) Abstract—As professors and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2016
Working Paper

Henry Kissinger: Negotiating Black Majority Rule in Southern Africa

By: James K. Sebenius, R. Nicholas Burns, Robert H. Mnookin and L. Alexander Green

In 1976, United States Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger conducted a series of intricate, multiparty negotiations in Southern Africa to persuade white Rhodesian leader Ian Smith to accede to black majority rule. Conducted near the end of President Gerald Ford’s... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Negotiation Process; Race; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Deal; Government and Politics; Africa; United States

SSRN