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Disasters and the American State
Disasters and the American State offers a thesis about the trajectory of federal government involvement in preparing for disaster shaped by contingent events. Politicians and bureaucrats claim credit for the government's successes in preparing for and responding to disaster, and they are also blamed for failures outside of government's control. New interventions have created precedents and established organizations and administrative cultures that accumulated over time and produced a general trend in which citizens, politicians and bureaucrats expect the government to provide more security from more kinds of disasters. The trend reached its peak when the Federal Emergency Management Agency adopted the idea of preparing for 'all hazards' as its mantra. Despite the rhetoric, however, the federal government's increasingly bold claims and heightened public expectations are disproportionate to the ability of the federal government to prevent or reduce the damage caused by disaster.
eBook
Lessons of Disaster
Even before the wreckage of a disaster is cleared, one question is foremost in the minds of the public: \"What can be done to prevent this from happening again?\" Today, news media and policymakers often invoke the \"lessons of September 11\" and the \"lessons of Hurricane Katrina.\" Certainly, these unexpected events heightened awareness about problems that might have contributed to or worsened the disasters, particularly about gaps in preparation. Inquiries and investigations are made that claim that \"lessons\" were \"learned\" from a disaster, leading us to assume that we will be more ready the next time a similar threat looms, and that our government will put in place measures to protect us. In Lessons of Disaster, Thomas Birkland takes a critical look at this assumption. We know that disasters play a role in setting policy agendas—in getting policymakers to think about problems—but does our government always take the next step and enact new legislation or regulations? To determine when and how a catastrophic event serves as a catalyst for true policy change, the author examines four categories of disasters: aviation security, homeland security, earthquakes, and hurricanes. He explores lessons learned from each, focusing on three types of policy change: change in the larger social construction of the issues surrounding the disaster; instrumental change, in which laws and regulations are made; and political change, in which alliances are created and shifted. Birkland argues that the type of disaster affects the types of lessons learned from it, and that certain conditions are necessary to translate awareness into new policy, including media attention, salience for a large portion of the public, the existence of advocacy groups for the issue, and the preexistence of policy ideas that can be drawn upon. This timely study concludes with a discussion of the interplay of multiple disasters, focusing on the initial government response to Hurricane Katrina and the negative effect the September 11 catastrophe seems to have had on reaction to that tragedy.
eBook
Unbreakable : building the resilience of the poor in the face of natural disasters
'Economic losses from natural disasters totaled 92 billion in 2015.' Such statements, all too commonplace, assess the severity of disasters by no other measure than the damage inflicted on buildings, infrastructure, and agricultural production.
eBook
Snow Avalanche Hazards and Mitigation in the United States
The present mortality as a result of snow avalanches exceeds the average mortality caused by earthquakes as well as all other forms of slope failure combined. Snow avalanches can range from small amounts of loose snow moving rapidly down a slope to slab avalanches, in which large chunks of snow break off and destroy everything in their path. Although considered a hazard in the United States since the westward expansion in the nineteenth century, in modern times snow avalanches are an increasing concern in recreational mountainous areas. However, programs for snow avalanche hazard mitigation in other countries are far ahead of those in the United States.The book identifies several steps that should be taken by the United States in order to establish guidelines for research, technology transfer, and avalanche legislation and zoning.
eBook
In the wake of disaster : Islamists, the state and a social contract in Pakistan
\"In the Wake of Disaster is the first book to seriously engage with the everyday state through a devastating disaster in Pakistan. It explores post-disaster politics in the aftermath of large-scale flooding of the Indus River that affected millions of people in 2010 and 2011. The way this disaster was lived, experienced and politically constructed tells a vivid and illustrative story about the social contract between the state and its citizens and Islamists in Pakistan. This book tells that story. It sets out to examine a seemingly simple question: what is the responsibility of the state to its people in the aftermath of a natural disaster? Along the way it delves into rich detail about people's everyday encounters with the state in Pakistan, uncovers post-colonial discourses on rights of citizenship and dispels mainstream understanding of Islamist groups as presenting an alternative development paradigm to the state. Based on detailed ethnographic fieldwork, it forces the reader to look beyond narratives of Pakistan as the perennial 'failing state' falling victim to an imminent 'Islamist takeover'. It shifts the conversation from hysteria and sensationalism surrounding Pakistan to the everyday. In doing so it transforms our understanding of contemporary disasters\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Disaster and the Politics of Intervention
Government plays a critical role in mitigating individual and collective vulnerability to disaster. Through measures such as disaster relief, infrastructure development, and environmental regulation, public policy is central to making societies more resilient. However, the recent drive to replace public institutions with market mechanisms has challenged governmental efforts to manage collective risk. The contributors to this volume analyze the respective roles of the public and private sectors in the management of catastrophic risk, addressing questions such as: How should homeland security officials evaluate the risk posed by terrorist attacks and natural disasters? Are market-based interventions likely to mitigate our vulnerability to the effects of climate change? What is the appropriate relationship between non-governmental organizations and private security firms in responding to humanitarian emergencies? And how can philanthropic efforts to combat the AIDS crisis ensure ongoing access to life-saving drugs in the developing world? More generally, these essays point to the way thoughtful policy intervention can improve our capacity to withstand catastrophic events.
Additional Columbia / SSRC books on the Privatization of Risk and its Implications for Americans
Bailouts: Public Money, Private ProfitEdited by Robert E. Wright
Health at Risk: America's Ailing Health System-and How to Heal ItEdited by Jacob S. Hacker
Laid Off, Laid Low: Political and Economic Consequences of Employment InsecurityEdited by Katherine S. Newman
Pensions, Social Security, and the Privatization of RiskEdited by Mitchell A. Orenstein
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