In order to avert such a crisis, American and Soviet leaders crafted the Incidents at Sea Agreement. This agreement established rules of the road for naval operations. These rules were designed to minimize naval encounters, and to provide definite procedures for handling encounters. The agreement also signaled to naval officers that their competitive behavior was unwanted. Ury suggests that this model could be used to handle unintended air and land encounters also.
Regional conflicts are another source of crises.
A regional congress would be composed of the nations immediately involved in the particular conflict and other interested nations. Together, these nations could then agree on ground rules and rules of engagement for the conflict, and could work toward resolving the conflict. Congresses can be slow to react. A permanent, standing international mediation service could provide conflict resolution services on short notice. Establishing regional mediation services would also be useful.