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This seminar will examine how the norms of international law and the functioning of international regimes can contribute to the resolution of acute security crises – and also how they fail. The role of alliances as instruments of deterrence and commitment, the function of multilateral institutions in convening negotiations and imposing sanctions, how nuclear arms control regimes constrain and adapt to competing national interests, and the unapologetic survival of great power diplomacy and national military strength, will be addressed. We will also look at how atavistic differences – national economic ambition, ethnic competition, and ideological rivalries – can instigate and prolong conflicts, and how the combination of force and diplomacy can forge new international arrangements. Seminar participants will prepare a research paper on an issue of their choosing. There will also be at least one short mid-term exercise. Contribution to classroom discussions is required. The course is taught from a practitioner’s perspective by Jeffrey Pryce, former senior legal and policy official in the Department of Defense and counsel in international dispute resolution at a major law firm. Close analysis of the role and strategy of international institutions in security crises is one way to learn from the mistakes of the past, and understand how, in concrete cases, the international order shapes and is shaped by the geopolitical security challenges so much in evidence now.