Arvid Bell is a scholar and entrepreneur who specializes in negotiation strategy, crisis management, conflict system analysis, international security, and simulation design. He is a lecturer on government at Harvard University and partner at Negotiation Design & Strategy (NDS), a training, advisory, and research development group.
Bell was appointed to the inaugural cohort of Davis Center Scholar-Entrepreneurs, outstanding scholars and innovators who pursue pioneering research agendas, build new institutions, mentor students, and bring regional studies closer to practice. He founded the Negotiation Task Force at the Davis Center and directed it from 2019 to 2023. An expert in crisis simulation design, Bell has launched a new generation of immersive case exercises used internationally to train decision-makers in government, military, and the private sector. He has testified on international conflict at the German and the European Parliaments, briefed NATO military personnel before their deployment to Afghanistan, and led workshops to a diverse array of audiences, including high school students, business leaders, and U.S. military officers, as well as students at Stanford University, Columbia University, and the University of Oxford.
Bell has published research in International Negotiation, Negotiation Journal, and International Studies Perspectives and was a Co-Investigator of the Middle East and North Africa Negotiation Report, a collaborative effort of scholars and students from Harvard University, Tufts University, Brandeis University, and Reichman University. He is also a member of the executive board of the Arms Control Negotiation Academy (ACONA) and an affiliated expert with the Conflict Analytics Lab at Queen’s University.
He holds a Franco-German dual master’s degree in political science and international affairs from the Free University of Berlin and Sciences Po Paris, a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School, and a doctoral degree in political science from Goethe University Frankfurt.
Selected Publications
- Bell, Arvid, and Dana Wolf (2023). “Decoding Negotiation Systems in the Middle East and North Africa: A Framework for Analysis,” Negotiation Journal, 39 (1), pp. 71-101.
- Bell, Arvid and Dana Wolf (2022): "Is a Ceasefire Agreement Possible? A Negotiation Analysis of the Russia-Ukraine War," Russia Matters, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, March 12.
- Bell, Arvid, Alexander Bollfrass, Monica Giannone, Alexander Nehrbass, Taylor Valley, and Dana Wolf (2022). “The Scholar-Entrepreneurial Organization: Lessons in Building an Academic Startup,” Negotiation Journal, 38 (1), pp. 69-92.
- Bell, Arvid and Alexander Bollfrass (2022): "To Hell with the Cell: The Case for Immersive Statecraft Education," International Studies Perspectives, 23 (2), pp. 129-150.
- Bell, Arvid and Taylor Valley (2020): "The Art of Negotiation Exercise Design: Five Basic Principles to Produce Powerful Learning Experiences," Negotiation Journal, 36 (1), pp. 57-72.
- Bell, Arvid, and Tom O’Bryan (2019). “A Puzzle Too Complex? James Baker’s Mediation Mission in Western Sahara, 1997-2004,” HKS Case 2158.0, Harvard Kennedy School Case Program.
- Bell, Arvid and Brian Mandell (2018). "Cognitive Maelstroms, Nested Negotiation Networks, and Cascading Decision Effects: Modeling and Teaching Negotiation Complexity with Systemic Multi-Constituency Exercises," Negotiation Journal, 34 (1), pp. 37-67.
- Bell, Arvid (2014). "The Roadblock of Contested Recognition: Identity-based Justice Claims as an Obstacle to Peace Negotiations in Afghanistan," International Negotiation, 19 (3), pp. 518-542.
