This week Alvin Warren led students in the MPP Policy Seminar through a Harvard Case Study, “Negotiating from the Margins,” that featured his participation in his tribe’s reacquisition of ancestral lands in the Valles Caldera.

Mr. Warren used the case to teach effective negotiation understanding the interests of other stakeholders. He navigated students through the process of interest mapping and various approaches to making compromises in policy and politics. The Harvard Kennedy School advocates an interests approach, over a rights approach to negotiation.

Throughout the class, students were put into the shoes of Santa Clara and encouraged to make strategic decisions. In the end, students were able to appreciate the pressures and importance of understanding context within policy decisions. One student concluded, “People might agree with you in principle, but it isn't a priority to them. You have to see where you fit in the larger picture and understand what you need to do to get things done from that position.”