This paper assesses the relative merits of numerical and textual approaches to the study of international events. While enjoying a much longer history, numerical approaches have certain representational drawbacks that do not apply to textual approaches. Textual models provide a more adequate descriptive foundation for the study of international events. The paper argues that attention should be devoted to the development of hypothesis-testing techniques for the analysis of international events and suggests the form those test might take. The paper calls for efforts to apply existing textual analytic methods to international events' analysis and for efforts that would attract computational linguists to this application area. A 57-item bibliography is included. (Author/JHP)