Disaster and Crisis Management ─ Public Management Perspectives

A wide range of natural hazards pose major risks to the lives and livelihoods of large populations around the world. Man-made disasters caused by technological failures, industrial accidents, spillages, explosions, and fires, compound this threat. Since 9/11, security threats based on violence (terrorism, insurgency, and civil strife) have attracted much governmental attention and a great deal of public resources. As the scale, frequency, and intensity of disasters and crises have dramatically increased over the last decade, the failures in responding to these crises have prompted a critical need to evaluate the way in which the public sector responds to disaster.

What have we learned? What has changed in the management of disasters and crises? What do we know about the causes, patterns, and consequences of these events? This booklooks at some of the approaches that can be taken to empirically examine disaster and crisis management practices. It contributes to the literature on crisis and disaster management, as well as social policy and planning. Introducing approaches that are applicable to a variety of circumstances in the U.S. and in other countries, it offers ways to think through policy interventions and governance mechanisms that may enhance societal resilience. This book was originally published as a special issue ofPublic Management Review.

Naim Kapucu is Professor of Public Policy and Administration in the School of Public Administration at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA. He has published widely in areas of public administration and emergency management, and has developed and taught emergency management and homeland security programmes at UCF.

Arjen Boin is Professor of Public Institutions and Governance at the Institute of Political Science, Leiden University, The Netherlands. He has published widely on topics of crisis and disaster management. He is co-editor of Public Administration and managing partner of Crisisplan BV.