The case for Interdisciplinary Crisis Studies

Abstract

In the world we live in today, the presence and claims of crisis abound – from climate change, financial and political crisis to depression, livelihoods and personal security crisis. There is a challenge to studying crisis due to the ways in which crisis as a notion, condition and experience refers to and operates at various societal levels. Further, different kinds of crisis can overlap and intersect with each other, and act as precursors or consequences of other crises, in what can be thought of as inter-crisis relations or chains of crises. This article makes an enquiry into how to develop more adequate analytical tools for understanding crisis as a multidimensional phenomenon. We ask how crisis can be conceptualised and what the analytical potentials of a distinct crisis perspective might be? In this article we suggest a multi- and interdisciplinary approach to bridge between traditionally separated realms. Our ambition is to present a case for the development of Interdisciplinary Crisis Studies as a field of scholarly enquiry, which allows for new perspectives on data collection and analysis. Using the cases of, first, crisis and security and, second, crisis and climate, conflict and migration, we illustrate how studying and intervening in crises requires non-linear approaches which connect across disciplines to develop more comprehensive, interdisciplinary understandings of societal problems and better solutions. In concluding the paper, we assert that key features of Interdisciplinary Crisis Studies must include (1) temporality, spatiality and scale; (2) multi-layeredness, processuality and contradictions; and (3) gender, intersectionality and social inequalities.

Not Now: Negotiating Research Access during Phases of Crisis

“…Thus, our findings suggest that due to the severe constraints in terms of financial resources but also managerial attention (Ocasio, 1997), managers are often scared that committing to a research project sends the wrong signal to the staff. Crisis situations, in their multifaceted nature, constitute an inflection point that requires tough choices under severe time pressure (Bergman-Rosamond et al, 2020). This may involve decisions about redundancies or workers' pay.…”

“…Hence, they may be the issue of the time and the troubles of individual actors (Mills & Gitlin, 2000). Inherent in these different notions of crisis is the ambiguity regarding what happens next (Bergman-Rosamond et al, 2020). From an organizational point of view, these highly uncertain but impactful situations may threaten the very core of the organization and thus often precipitate inward-looking behavior (Weick, 1988) at the expense of external collaborations with researchers.…”

Mobility and legal infrastructure for Ukrainian refugees

“…Notably, onward mobility rights were further expanded as part of this decision, as the Member States agreed not to apply the directive's in-built option to return beneficiaries in case of secondary movement. 6 Political crises, such as the invasion of Ukraine, often prompt not just legal shifts, but also cross-cutting reconfigurations in the way that different legal regimes interact or are entangled (Bergman-Rosamond et al, 2022).…”

Gendered dimensions of migration in relation to climate change

“…and in current politics (distribution of material rights, protection, etc.)' (Bergman Rosamond et al, 2020). In that sense, migration is hardly influenced or facilitated by a single factor but manifests as an outcome of complex and intertwined socio-economic and political complex that includes inequality, discrimination, poverty, etc.…”