The International Crisis Group (also simply known as the Crisis Group) is a transnational non-profit, non-governmental organization founded in 1995 that carries out field research on violent conflict and advances policies to prevent, mitigate or resolve conflict.

It advocates policies directly with governments, multilateral organisations and other political actors as well as the media.

A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a not-for-profit organization that is independent from states and international governmental organizations.

They are usually funded by donations but some avoid formal funding altogether and are run primarily by volunteers.

NGOs are highly diverse groups of organizations engaged in a wide range of activities, and take different forms in different parts of the world.

Some may have charitable status, while others may be registered for tax exemption based on recognition of social purposes.

Others may be fronts for political, religious, or other interests.

A nonprofit organization (also known as a non-business entity) is an organization whose purpose is something other than making a profit.

A nonprofit organization is often dedicated to furthering a particular social cause or advocating for a particular point of view.

In economic terms, a nonprofit organization uses its surplus revenues to further achieve its purpose or mission, rather than distributing its surplus income to the organization's shareholders (or equivalents) as profit or dividends.

This is known as the non-distribution constraint.

The decision to adopt a nonprofit legal structure is one that will often have taxation implications, particularly where the nonprofit seeks income tax exemption, charitable status and so on.

Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over the territory.

The opposite of independence is a dependent territory.

Independence does not necessarily mean freedom.

War is a state of armed conflict between societies.

It is generally characterized by extreme aggression, destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces.

An absence of war is usually called "peace".

Warfare refers to the common activities and characteristics of types of war, or of wars in general.

Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant casualties.