Crises in World Politics presents an integrated theory of crisis at both system and state levels. The Unified Model of Crises was designed to answer core Under what conditions will a crisis erupt? Why do some crises escalate to war whileothers do not? Under what conditions will a crisis 'wind-down'? How does stress affect decision-making in crises? When will states resort to violence in crisis management? Why do some crises terminate in agreement while others do not? Finally, what are the consequences of crises, both for the adversaries and for the system in which a crisis occurs? The answers lie in a sequence of four interrelated phases of crisis - onset, escalation, deescalation, and impact. Systematic knowledge is presented about how these phases unfold using the data on 70 years of international and foreign policy crises from 1918 to 1988, amassed by the International Crisis Behaviour (ICB) Project. And an in-depth case study applies the United Model to the Gulf Crisis 1990-1991

International Political Earthquakes is the masterwork of the preeminent scholar Michael Brecher. Brecher, who came of age before World War II, has witnessed more than seven decades of conflict and has spent his career studying the dynamics of relations among nations throughout the world. When terrorism, ethnic conflict, military buildup, or other local tensions spark an international crisis, Brecher argues that the structure of global politics determines its potential to develop into open conflict. That conflict, in turn, may then generate worldwide political upheaval. Comparing international crises to earthquakes, Brecher proposes a scale analogous to the Richter scale to measure the severity and scope of the impact of a crisis on the landscape of international politics. Brecher's conclusions about the causes of international conflict and its consequences for global stability make a convincing case for gradual, nonviolent approaches to crisis resolution. Michael Brecher is R. B. Angus Professor of Political Science at McGill University.