The late Nelson Mandela will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the greatest negotiators in history. According to Harvard Law School professor Robert Mnookin, Mandela was “the greatest negotiator of the twentieth century” as he stated in his book, Bargaining with the Devil, When to Negotiate, When to Fight (Mnookin, 2010).
Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela in the village of Mvezo, Transkei, South Africa on 18 July, 1918. His name meant ‘trouble maker”, a name some would say fit him perfectly. He came from a long line of leaders. He was born into a royal family in 1918; his grandfather was king of the Thembu people. Mandela’s father, Hendry, was an advisor to the Thembu royal family. Mandela was one of 13 children and the youngest of four boys. He was the first in his family to go to school where as was the custom the English name ‘Nelson’ was given to him by a teacher. When Mandela was about 12 years …show more content…
Two years later he became deputy president of the ANC. It’s previously cautious policies were quickly replaced with an agenda of mass civil disobedience under the direction of Mandela, where segregation laws were deliberately broken to overwhelm the criminal justice system. Mandela became volunteer-in-chief of the ‘defiance campaign’ and began to be widely recognized in the public’s eye. Subsequently, he was arrested, convicted and declared a ‘banned’, which meant he could no longer leave Johannesburg or meet with political nationals.
In December of 1956 Mandela was arrested and brought up on charges of high treason along with 155 other political figures. The trial lasted for nearly five years, until May of 1961, when he was acquitted along with all the other remaining defendants. The judges declared there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the defendants had intended to overthrow the state by