Disasters and the American State
：How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Public Prepare for the Unexpected
Publication subTitle ：How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Public Prepare for the Unexpected
Author： Patrick S. Roberts;
Publisher： Cambridge University Press
Publication year： 2013
E-ISBN: 9781316918760
P-ISBN(Paperback): 9781107025868
P-ISBN(Hardback): 9781107025868
Subject： D034 State institutions;D52 世界政治制度与国家机构
Keyword： 政治、法律
Language： ENG
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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 federal government's successes in preparing for and responding to disaster, and they are also blamed for failures outside of government's control. 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. Politicians and bureaucrats claim credit for the federal government's successes in preparing for and responding to disaster, and they are also blamed for failures outside of government's control. 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. 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. 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. '[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 in
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