International crisis

The term international crisis is a widespread term without a single common definition. To some, it involves "a sequence of interactions between the governments of two or more sovereign states in severe conflict, short of actual war, but involving the perception of a dangerously high probability of war".Snyder, Glenn H. and Diesing, Paul (1977). Conflict Among Nations: Bargaining, Decision Making and System Structure in International Crises. (defines an international crisis)

Types Richard Ned Lebow, an American political scientist, gives a breakdown of three types of international crises: Justification of hostilities.Lebow, Richard N. (1981). Between Peace and War: The Nature of International Crisis. One of the nations decides, before the crisis starts, to go to war and constructs a crisis to justify it. The pattern of justification is almost always the same: Rouse public opinion, make impossible demands, try to legitimize the demands, deny your real intentions then employ the rejection of the demands as a reason for war. A recent example, commonly employed by critics of George W. Bush, is the Iraq disarmament crisis, which precipitated the Iraq War. Spinoff crisis. The nations are involved in a war or crisis with another nation or nations and this precipitates another crisis, e.g., the Lusitania incident in 1915. Brinkmanship. Intentionally forcing a crisis to get the other side to back down. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 is a well-known example of brinkmanship.

With the exception of a justification of hostilities, the study of international crises assumes that neither side actually wants to go to war, but must be visibly prepared to do so.

Strategies A book edited by Alexander L. George, an American behavioral scientist, presents an overview of the process and conflicting goals of crisis management as well as many examples.George, Alexander L. (ed) (1991). Avoiding War: Problems of Crisis Management. It discusses a number of strategies, including:

Offensive strategies blackmail limited and reversible response controlled pressure attrition fait accompli

Defensive strategies coercion limited escalation tit-for-tat test of capabilities "drawing a line" buying-time strategy conveying commitment and resolve to avoid miscalculation by the adversary collective security

List of defused crises International crises tend to result in war, almost by definition; they are then remembered best not as crises but as causes of wars. For information on international crises that resulted immediately in war, see list of wars.

Given the above, some of the crises that are best-known as crises were defused. The following crises did not immediately provoke large-scale violence:

(in chronological order)

Falklands Crisis of 1770 Nootka Crisis (1789) XYZ Affair (1797–1798) – between the United States of America and the First French Republic Oregon boundary dispute (1844–1846) – between the United States of America and British North America Don Pacifico affair (1850) Pig War (1859) Trent Affair (1861) Luxembourg Crisis (1867) Belgian railway crisis (1868–1869) War in sight crisis (1875)Gall, Lothar Gall (1986). Bismarck: The White Revolutionary, Volume 2: 1871–1898. pp. 46–48. Panjdeh incident (1885) Samoan crisis (1887–1889) – between the United States of America, England, and Germany Anglo-Portuguese Crisis (1889–1890) Venezuelan crisis of 1895 – between Venezuela and the United Kingdom Fashoda Incident (1898–1899) Baltimore crisis (1891–1892) Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903 – between Venezuela and Britain, Germany and Italy First Moroccan Crisis (1904–1906) Dutch–Venezuelan crisis of 1908 – between Venezuela and the Netherlands Bosnian crisis (1908–1909) Kivu frontier incident (1909–1910) Agadir Crisis (1911) Åland crisis (1916–1920) Corfu incident (1923) Remilitarization of the Rhineland (1936) Anschluss (1938) May Crisis (1938) Sudetenland Crisis (1938) Levant Crisis (1945) – between the United Kingdom and Syria, France Iran crisis (1946–1947) Berlin Blockade (1948–1949) First Taiwan Strait Crisis (1954–1955) 1958 Lebanon crisis Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958) Berlin Crisis of 1961 Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) Pueblo incident (1968) Damansky Island Crisis (1969) Panmunjom axe murder incident (1976) Beagle conflict (1978) Iran hostage crisis (1979–1981) Havana Peruvian embassy crisis (1980) Able Archer 83 (1983) Operation Brasstacks (1986–1987) Caldas crisis (1987) 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis Third Taiwan Strait Crisis (1995–1996) 2001 Kodori crisis – between Georgia, Russia, and the breakaway statelet of Abkhazia Pankisi Gorge crisis (2000–2002) – between Georgia and Russia, with involvement from the United States, Chechen separatists, and transnational jihadists Hainan Island incident (2001) – between the United States of America and China Perejil Island crisis (2002) 2005 Mexico–Venezuela diplomatic crisis 2006 Kodori crisis – between Georgia, Russia, and the breakaway statelet of Abkhazia 2007 Morocco–Spain diplomatic conflict - between the Ceuta and Melilla region of Spain 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis 2008–2011 Cambodian–Thai border crisis 2010 Colombia–Venezuela diplomatic crisis 2010 Senkaku boat collision incident 2011 Argentina–United States diplomatic crisis First North Kosovo crisis (2011–2013) 2012–2013 Ecuador–United Kingdom diplomatic crisis Senkaku Islands tensions (2012–2013) 2013 Dominican Republic–Haiti diplomatic crisis 2014 Panama–Venezuela diplomatic crisis North Korea crisis (2017–2018) Qatar diplomatic crisis (2017–2021) 2018 Kuwait–Philippines diplomatic crisis 2018 Panama–Venezuela diplomatic crisis 2019–2020 Mexico–Bolivia diplomatic crisis Belarus–European Union border crisis (2021) 2022 Melilla border incident Nigerien crisis (2023–2024) Canada–India diplomatic crisis (2023–2025) Guyana-Venezuela crisis (2023–2024) Greenland crisis (2025–2026) Azerbaijan–Russia diplomatic crisis (2025) 2025 Cambodian–Thai border crisis

Ongoing crises (in chronological order) Korean conflict (1945 – ongoing) North Korea and weapons of mass destruction List of border incidents involving North and South Korea Israeli–Palestinian conflict (1947 – ongoing) Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts (1947 – ongoing) Territorial disputes in the South China Sea (1950s – ongoing) Cyprus problem (1963 – ongoing) Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict (1979 – ongoing) Iraqi conflict (2003 – ongoing) Crisis in Venezuela (2010 – ongoing) Libyan crisis (2011 – ongoing) Syrian Civil War (2011 – 2024) Aftermath of the Syrian civil war (2024 – Ongoing) Russo-Ukrainian war (2014 – ongoing) Yemeni Civil War (2015 – ongoing) Rohingya genocide (2017 – ongoing) Lebanese crisis (2019 – ongoing) Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict (2022 – ongoing) Second North Kosovo crisis (2022 – Ongoing) Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis (2022 – ongoing) China–Japan diplomatic crisis (2025 – ongoing) Poland–Ukraine diplomatic crisis (2026 – ongoing) Ceuta migrant crisis (2026 – ongoing)

International crisis

Bron en licentie