Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis

Core values refer to beliefs that are central to one’s identity and underlie one’s moral code and outlook on life (46). Core values are listed as one of the factors in Diamond’s framework that potentially assist one in coping with a crisis. Diamond argues that nations have core values as well. In some cases, such values can help a country successfully navigate a crisis, and in others, be a hindrance. For example, Finland’s core value of independence helped it to resist the Soviet invasion. In contrast, Japan’s core value of securing access to resources, no matter how endangered, is hindering its ability to meet the crisis of depleting resources.

A crisis is a turning point and represents a challenge, creating “pressure to devise new coping methods” (7). Previous modes of operation no longer work and some changes must be made to successfully deal with the problem. While there is disagreement over what constitutes a crisis, Diamond adopts a mid-range definition: Crises occur in a range between a few decades and a century. This broad definition sometimes makes it unclear as to whether Diamond’s analysis is addressing a specific crisis, or  a series of succeeding or related crises, such as under dictatorships like Pinochet that create new crises while mitigating others.