Crises affect international students’ overseas experiences, but crisis theory is rarely considered in international education studies. This article provides a comparative study of two countries, using a ‘most similar cases’ research design, to analyse host-nation government responses to crisis situations. The two countries are Australia and New Zealand. The crisis in each case relates to racial discrimination and violence against international students. The article finds that Australia and New Zealand each had a ‘long-shadow crisis’. Yet, Australia’s governmental response was more systematic and comprehensive, mainly because of the formation of a pro-action ‘advocacy coalition’ which was formed in the context of a federal political system. The article discusses key implications for international education studies, highlighting that governmental structures matter in crisis response, and that crisis theory is important to interpreting policy challenges, especially in the era of COVID-19.

危机影响国际学生的海外经历，但国际教育研究中很少考虑危机理论。本文提供了两个国家的比较研究，使用“最相似的案例”研究设计，分析东道国政府对危机局势的反应。这两个国家是澳大利亚和新西兰。每个案例的危机都与针对国际学生的种族歧视和暴力有关。文章发现，澳大利亚和新西兰各自都有“长影危机”。然而，澳大利亚政府的反应更加系统和全面，主要是因为在联邦政治制度的背景下形成了一个积极行动的“倡导联盟”。这篇文章讨论了国际教育研究的关键意义，