The culmination of more than twenty years of research by Michael Brecher and Jonathan Wilkenfeld, this book analyzes crucial themes about crisis, conflict, and war and presents systematic knowledge about more than 400 crises, 31 protracted conflicts, and almost 900 state participants.

The authors explore many aspects of conflict, including the ethnic dimension, the effect of different kinds of political regimes (notably the question whether democracies are more peaceful than authoritarian regimes), and the role of violence in crisis management.

Building upon their earlier volumes, principally Crises in the Twentieth Century (1988) and Crises in World Politics (1993), Brecher and Wilkenfeld employ both case studies and aggregate data analysis in a Unified Model of Crisis to focus on two levels of analysis - hostile interactions among states and the behavior of decision makers who must cope with the challenge posed by a threat to values, time pressure, and the increased likelihood that military hostilities will engulf them.

This book will appeal to scholars in political science, history, sociology, and economics as well as policymakers interested in the causes and effects of crises in international relations. The rich data sets will serve researchers for years to come as they probe additional aspects of crisis, conflict, and war in world politics.