The Politics Of Crisis Management: Public Leadership Under Pressure

This page intentionally left blank The Politics of Crisis Management Crisis management has become a defining feature of contemporary governance. In times of crisis, communities and members of organizations expect their leaders to minimize the impact of the crisis at hand, while critics and bureaucratic competitors try to seize the moment to blame incumbent rulers and their policies. In this extreme environment, policy makers must somehow establish a sense of normality, and foster collective learning from the crisis experience. In this uniquely comprehensive analysis, the authors examine how leaders deal with the strategic challenges they face, the political risks and opportunities they encounter, the errors they make, the pitfalls they need to avoid, and the paths away from crisis they may pursue. This book is grounded in over a decade of collaborative, cross-national case study research, and offers an invaluable multidisciplinary perspective. This is an original and important contribution from experts in public policy and international security. is an Associate Professor at Leiden University, Department of Public Administration. He is the author of Crafting Public Institutions (2001) and co-editor, with Rosenthal and Comfort, of Managing Crises: Threats, Dilemmas, Opportunities (2001). ARJEN BOIN PAUL ’T HART is senior fellow, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, and Professor of Public Administration at the Utrecht School of Governance, Utrecht University. His publications include Understanding Policy Fiascoes (1996), Beyond Groupthink (1997), and Success and Failure in Public Governance (2001). is the Director of CRISMART, acting Professor of Government at the Swedish National Defence College, as well as Associate Professor of Government at Uppsala University. He is the author of Crisis Decisionmaking: A Cognitive Institutional Approach (1999). ERIC STERN BENGT SUNDELIUS is the Founding Director of CRISMART and Professor of Government at Uppsala University. He is Chief Scientist of the Swedish Emergency Management Agency and responsible for promoting research in the area of homeland security. The Politics of Crisis Management Public Leadership under Pressure Arjen Boin Paul ’t Hart Eric Stern Bengt Sundelius cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521845373 © Arjen Boin, Paul ’t Hart, Eric Stern, Bengt Sundelius, 2005 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2005 isbn-13 isbn-10 978-0-511-13505-7 eBook (EBL) 0-511-13505-x eBook (EBL) isbn-13 isbn-10 978-0-521-84537-3 hardback 0-521-84537-8 hardback isbn-13 isbn-10 978-0-521-60733-9 paperback 0-521-60733-7 paperback Cambridge Univ