Introducing Critical Disaster Studies

Horowitz, Andy; Remes, Jacob

doi:10.9783/9780812299724-001

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Although accounts on trajectories of disaster recovery confirm that the governance of disaster is an inherently political issue (Hilhorst et al. , 2020; Horowitz and Remes, 2021, p. 3), disaster studies do not address substantively the heavy implications of states in these contests over power, ignoring how the state is a key actor in negotiations on aid distribution for immediate recovery and reforms for long-term change. Given the dominance of Western scholars in this literature (Gaillard, 2019, p. S12), disaster states are often defined according to their failure to achieve an ideal type aligned on the Weberian/Westphalian state model (Mouawad and Baumann, 2017), earning them the moniker “failed” or “fragile” states, [3] and are often dismissed from much of the analysis.…”

Section: State Theory Matters For the Critical Study Of Disaster Gove...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The promises and pitfalls of disaster aid platforms: a case study of Lebanon’s 3RF

Harb,

Bloemeke,

Atallah

et al. 2024

DPM

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PurposeUsing critical disaster studies and state theory, we assess the disaster aid platform named Lebanon Reconstruction, Reform and Recovery Framework (3RF) that was put in place by international donors in the aftermath of the Beirut Port Blast in August 2020, in order to examine the effectiveness of its inclusive decision-making architecture, as well as its institutional building and legislative reform efforts.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the case study approaach and relies on two original data sets compiled by authors, using desk reviews of academic literature and secondary data, in addition to 24 semi-structured expert interviews and participant observation for two years.FindingsThe aid platform appears innovative, participatory and effectively functioning toward recovery and reform. However, in practice, the government dismisses CSOs, undermines reforms and dodges state building, whereas the 3RF is structured in incoherent ways and operates according to conflicting logics, generating inertia and pitfalls that hinder effective participatory governance, prevent institutional building, and delay the making of projects.Research limitations/implicationsThe research contributes to critical scholarship as it addresses an important research gap concerning disaster aid platforms’ institutional design and governance that are under-studied in critical disaster studies and political studies. It also highlights the need for critical disaster studies to engage with state theory and vice-versa.Practical implicationsThe research contributes to evaluations of disaster recovery processes and outcomes. It highlights the limits of disaster aid platforms’ claims for participatory decision-making, institutional-building and reforms.Originality/valueThe paper amplifies critical disaster studies, through the reflexive analysis of a case-study of an aid platform.

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Section: State Theory Matters For the Critical Study Of Disaster Gove...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The promises and pitfalls of disaster aid platforms: a case study of Lebanon’s 3RF

Harb,

Bloemeke,

Atallah

et al. 2024

DPM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We argue that crises present both opportunity and risk for women leaders, depending on the characteristics of the crisis. Following the critical disaster studies literature, we believe that, just as gender is socially constructed, disasters are also socially constructed, political events (Horowitz and Remes 2021). The crisis issue area, the nature of the crisis, and the type of communication needed at a given time all intersect with a leader’s gender.…”

Section: How Do Crises Intersect With Gender?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Crisis, Gender Role Congruency, and Perceptions of Executive Leadership

2023

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At a time of pandemics, international economic downturns, and increasing environmental threats due to climate change, countries around the world are facing numerous crises. What impact might we expect these crises to have on the already common perception that executive leadership is a masculine domain? For years, women executives’ ability to lead has been questioned (Jalalzai 2013). However, the outbreak of COVID-19 brought headlines like CNN’s “Women Leaders Are Doing a Disproportionately Great Job at Handling the Pandemic” (Fincher 2020). Do crises offer women presidents and prime ministers opportunities to be perceived as competent leaders? Or do they prime masculinized leadership expectations and reinforce common conceptions that women are unfit to lead? We maintain that people’s perceptions of crisis leadership will depend on whether the crisis creates role (in)congruity between traditional gender norms and the leadership expectations generated by the particular crisis.

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“…In the aftermath of the Great Flood, based on his unique understanding that brought together phenomenological accounts of the racialized experience in environments and the political-economic account of the structure of that experience, Du Bois prefigured a now conventional environmental sociological position: Ecological disasters are not natural but man-made, and harms are racially segregated (Klinenberg 1999;Remes and Horowitz 2021;Woods 2017). Du Bois lay blame not on the Mississippi River, but on the many institutions and political actors that structured disaster.…”

Section: Rural and Ecological Segregation: Environmental Distribution...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Soils of Black Folk: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Theories of Environmental Racialization

Bhardwaj

2023

Sociological Theory

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Sociologists have canonized W.E.B. Du Bois as a theorist of race but have neglected his engagement with environmental themes. Not only was he concerned with ecology, such as the health of soils and water, but environmental themes also figured in his explanations of racism. Du Bois prefigured contemporary scholarship on environmental racism, detailing colonial capitalism’s uneven distribution of environmental benefits—such as natural resources—and harms—such as flooding and pollution. Moreover, Du Bois had novel insights on the role of environmental entities in shaping the adoption of racism, a process I term environmental racialization. He demonstrates how struggles over land led workers to pursue racism rather than solidarity. He argues that capitalist planters adopted racism to blame laborers for degraded soils. Du Bois is one of sociology’s earliest environmental theorists, uniquely illuminating how environment-society relations shape racism.

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Introducing Critical Disaster Studies

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

The promises and pitfalls of disaster aid platforms: a case study of Lebanon’s 3RF

The promises and pitfalls of disaster aid platforms: a case study of Lebanon’s 3RF

Crisis, Gender Role Congruency, and Perceptions of Executive Leadership

The Soils of Black Folk: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Theories of Environmental Racialization

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