ABSTRACT
SEVERITY AND IMPORTANCE: AN OVERVIEW
What differentiates one international crisis from others, for example, crises over Suez (1956-1957), the Prague Spring (1968), the El Salvador-Honduras Football War (1969), Bangladesh (1971), the Falkland Islands (1982), or any international crisis since the onset of the Depression era? As a basic structural characteristic, the number of crisis actors is certainly relevant, that is, the number of states whose principal decisionmakers perceive a situational change as a threat to one or more of their basic values, as requiring a response within a finite time and as likely to involve them in military hostilities before the challenge has been overcome. Crises also differ in the extent of heterogeneity among the adversaries. Do they vary in military capability or are they all major (or minor) powers? Are they states with advanced or premodern economies or do they exhibit various levels of development? Are their political regimes divergent or similar? And do they reflect one or more cultures and belief systems?
