Why have some interstate crises escalated to war when other have not? Are there patterns of behavior that war-prone disputes share in common? These are some of the questions considered by Russell Leng as he examines the behavior of nations in forty militarised crises occurring between 1816 and 1980. Leng considers the conditions under which crises are more or less likely to escalate to war or be resolved peacefully and compares the descriptive and prescriptive validity of two competing perspectives on conflict behavior: classical realism and the psychological approaches of behavioral scientists. The author concludes that elements of both realist and psychological perspectives are necessary for an adequate understanding of interstate crisis behavior and that the most effective approach to crisis bargaining combines each perspective in a firm-but-flexible 'reciprocating' strategy. The epilogue presents a provocative critique of the bargaining strategies pursued by the United States and Iraq during the Gulf Crisis of 1990–1991.

"This is an excellent database which will benefit conflict analysts for many years to come, and the best application of events data to the study of international politics. It is also a superb example of theoretically driven, historically informed, and policy-relevant social science." The International History Review

"...provides the studentof international relations with an excellent example of the traditionalis behaviourist debate that preoccupied the discipline in the sixties and seventies." J. Vanderkooy, Journal of European Integration

"Leng's work is a very careful analysis of the intricate relations among crisis structure, crisis behavior, influence strategies, and crisis outcomes. As such, it provides valuable insights on crisis management at a level that is...dynamic and sensitive to the evolutionary nature of crises....[S]olid scholarship on international crisis....no serious student of international relations can afford to overlook...." Zeev Maoz, Mershon International Studies Review