First published in 1976, Roger Fisher wrote this primer on international relations with the help of students enrolled in him freshman seminar at Harvard College.

International Conflict for Beginners is currently out of print.

Chapter 1: Think First About Their Decision (PDF)
"Judged by any standard the international situation is in a mess. It is destructive and dangerous and likely to become more so. But if the international situation is in a mess, it is not because governments are incapable of doing what they think they ought to be doing. It is because governments too often conceive of foreign affairs in ways which make their actions ineffective and conflict-prone..."

Chapter 2: Give them a Yesable Proposition (PDF)
"Any lobbyist knows that his chances of successfully influencing a government are increased if he has a specific proposal in mind. No one would expect success if he approached his own government and asked them to work out some scheme that reflects various principles. Less widely recognized is the extent to which obtaining an effective decision depends on presenting a proposal in a readily decidable format..."

Chapter 3: Making Threats is Not Enough (PDF)
"International Conflicts exist because one government is unhappy with what another government is doing or planning to do. We can therefore at any particular time think of a conflict as an attempt by one government to influence another to do something or not do something..."

All Three Chapters (PDF)