This paper adopts a theoretical perspective to explore the parameters of "crisis migration" to examine the extent to which it offers a useful conceptualization for advancing legal and policy responses to forced migration. Does framing different types of migration as "crisis migration" – for example, movement spurred by natural disasters, civil war, the impacts of climate change, or nuclear and industrial accidents – help to illuminate the nature of such movement and the kinds of policy responses required to address it? Or is this just another term for "forced migration"? What commonalities can be extracted for the clarification of universal standards, and where might the idiosyncrasies of context demand highly tailored responses?