Disasters and the American State
How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Public Prepare for the Unexpected
Published on 6. October 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
236 pages
978-1-316-63120-1 (ISBN)
Description
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.
Reviews / Votes
'[Roberts] has immersed himself with admirable thoroughness in the tangled story of how the federal government came to be the lead actor when disaster strikes. Above all, he develops a thoroughly persuasive historical and institutional explanation for how FEMA came to be a byword for bureaucratic incompetence - first, at the turn of the 1990s, then, more spectacularly, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.' Gareth Davies, The Forum 'Roberts' balanced handling of the much misunderstood response to Katrina is magisterial ... This is not only a powerfully argued, relentlessly fair account of the troubles that plague the federal management of disaster, but also an edifying comment on the limits any modern democracy faces in acting swiftly and effectively.' Kirkus Reviews '... a thoroughly persuasive account of the long and uneven development of what he calls the American 'disaster state'. Roberts' fundamental goal is to help us understand contemporary disaster politics, including how past politics and institutions have given rise to these politics. He draws on insights from the literature on American political development to provide us with this account, which emphasizes the role of historical patterns as well as idiosyncrasies in creating these politics, and their roles in shaping the American state. The book is very well written, provocative, and well researched. Anyone interested in American political development should find it compelling, and of course, disaster scholars may be especially interested.' Logan Strother, Disaster, Property and Politics blog (disasterspropertypolitics.com)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
17 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
390 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-316-63120-1 (9781316631201)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Patrick S. Roberts
Disasters and the American State
How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Public Prepare for the Unexpected
Book
10/2013
Cambridge University Press
€130.80
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Patrick S. Roberts is an Associate Professor at the Center for Public Administration and Policy (CPAP) in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He is the Associate Chair and Program Director for CPAP, Northern Virginia. Roberts holds a PhD in government from the University of Virginia, and spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow, one at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, California and another with the Program on Constitutional Government at Harvard University, Massachusetts. He spent 2010-11 as the Ghaemian Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Heidelberg Center for American Studies in Germany. He has also been a reporter for the Associated Press. Roberts' work has been published in a variety of scholarly and popular journals including Studies in American Political Development, the Public Administration Review, the Journal of Policy History, Political Science Quarterly, Publius, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Administration and Society, the Public Organization Review, National Affairs, the Policy Review, American Interest, and USA Today. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the United States Naval Laboratories, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Social Science Research Council.
Content
1. From disaster relief to disaster management; 2. The origins of the disaster state, 1789-1914; 3. Civil defense and the foundations of disaster policy, 1914-79; 4. The rise of emergency management and FEMA, 1979-2001; 5. Terrorism and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, 1993-2003; 6. 'Where the hell is the Army?' Hurricane Katrina meets the homeland security era; 7. Administrative evil and elite panic in disaster management; 8. Disasters and the American state.