ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that changes in the balance of power between the United States and the Soviet Union have put increased pressure on crisis management in the 1980s and beyond. The assumption of crisis prevention is that the best way to manage crisis between the superpowers is to prevent them from arising in the first place. The chapter presents more political perspective on the problem of control by Alexander George, which emphasizes the frequent miscalculations that occur as the superpowers try to determine and communicate their interests in crisis situations. It examines the circumstances by Alexander George in which crises originate. It is a continuation of the work by George and his colleagues on crisis prevention, a recent extension of the sub-field of crisis management. By comparison, William Zartman examines crisis behavior outside the US-USSR context, and his analysis provides an interesting counterpoint to the literature on crisis management which is mainly oriented towards superpower relations.
