Crises in the Twentieth Century: Vol I: Handbook of International Crises Vol II: Handbook of Foreign Policy Crises

R.J. Stoll, Rice University
This set will become a standard reference work for studies of crisis in the 20th century.
Choice
After more than 20 years of work M Brecher and his colleagues have finally erected their monument to guantitative knowledge of international politics. Those who have always differentiated between political science and international relations based on the experimental nature of the former and the evalutative nature of the latter should finally change their minds as a result of this impressure research in the field... This monumental work could truly be, if correctly utilized - representative of a ground historical occasion for the growth of theory, and not only impirical research, of international relations.
Teoria Politica No 2
Y.Y.I. Vertzberger
These three volumes form one of the two tiers of a monumental research project on international crisis behaviour... The International Crisis Behavior (ICB) Project supplies the most comprehensive and complete data set I know of on the phenomenon of international crises for the period 1929-1979...the project has succeeded remarkably in bridging the gap between aggregate data-based research and case studies oriented research and integrating their results...no competition in available data banks...the data is organized in a user friendly form that is easy to read and comprehend. It would be impossible to summarize here the enormous amount of systematic descriptive information that is presented in this and the next volume. But two things are worth noting...the innovative and sophisticated measurement of crisis severity,...the concise summaries,...of each crisis case...the ICB Project is without doubt one of the most ambitious and important research enterprises of the last decade in the social sciences and perhaps the most impressive research project of its kind in the field of international relations. The magnitude significance, and quality of the present three volumes testify to this...the handbook volumes form an indispensable contribution to significantly extending the boundaries of our knowledge of the critical phenomenon of international crisis behavior.
Jerusalem Jnl International Relations Vol 12 No 4
In an effort to contribute to the development of a comprehensive theory of crisis behavior, Michael Brecher, Jonathan Wilkenfeld and Sheila Moser assembled data about 278 international crises for the 50-year period between 1929 and 1979. Their objective, in the International Crisis Behavior Project, was to examine on a comparative basis with the use of quantitative research a large number of crises displaying various and differing characteristics. They sought to generate systematic knowldge about crises on a global basis. The Project had at its foccus crises between major powers, as well as those between major powers and smaller powers, and smaller powers themselves. They sought to illuminate such dimensions of international crisis as the images and behavior of major powers, the behavioral patterns of weak actors, the role of deterence, bargaining between adversaries, the role of alliance partners in crisis management, the catalysts or triggering factors producing crises, how and why crises are resolved in alternative types of outcomes; and, finally, to identify the consequences of crises for the power and status, as well as subsequent perceptions, of participant states.
Contending Theories of International Relations, 3rd Ed., Dougherty and Pfaltzgraff