Transboundary crisis management under the volcano: The case of the Icelandic ash cloud

Abstract

This paper discusses the intricacies of external transboundary crises, namely those cross‐border threats whose management requires coordination among EU and non‐EU countries. Specifically, it explores the extent to which European integration theories shed light on the coordination of external transboundary crisis responses by assessing the weight and role of the actor constellations involved in the civil aviation response to the 2010 Icelandic ash cloud crisis. The use of social network analysis as a methodological tool generates novel empirical evidence on the configuration of crisis management structures. The analysis shows that many EU Member States led decision‐making, whereas supranational organizations were instrumental in the coordination of the ash cloud crisis response. The centrality of these bodies contrasts with the peripheral position of most interest groups. This paper also suggests that external transboundary crises present complex management dynamics that distinguish them from generic transboundary threats. For example, the response to the ash cloud crisis was not commanded by the European Economic Area/European Free Trade Association countries where its epicentre was located. The empirical analysis was based on information extracted from a survey to experts involved in the management of this episode, as well as from ten semi‐structured elite interviews.

Examining the EU Reaction to a Humanitarian Emergency from a Network Perspective: The Response to Cyclones Idai and Kenneth

“…As in the case of resource dependence theory, SNA examines how social environments condition the way in which interactions are conducted (Pfeffer and Salancik, 2003). Its ability to determine the extent to which systems are effectively co-ordinated by examining formal and de facto interactions makes SNA particularly useful for studying humanitarian responses, considering that emergency managers frequently override formal protocols to produce quick and effective responses (Bravo-Laguna, 2021).…”

“…Second, survey results present subjective perceptions of a sample of managers involved in the response. To minimize the likelihood that respondents fail to identify existing ties within the network, the survey targeted individuals with high executive responsibilities in the response effort, following a logic used in previous studies (Bravo-Laguna, 2021;Lai et al, 2019). The validity of the network data was tested further by checking 76 documents elaborated by different institutions 6 and information on the OCHA website regarding financial transfers related to the emergency in Mozambique.…”

“…This article fulfils these aspirations by combining semi-structured interviews with social network analysis (SNA). SNA is a powerful methodology to study the de facto involvement of different actors in humanitarian responses owing to its ability to produce rich empirical evidence regarding formal and informal exchanges (Bravo-Laguna, 2021;Schomaker et al, 2021). 1 Indeed, the use of SNA is increasing in EU studies (for example, see Malang and Leifeld, 2021).…”

Analyzing multi-level governance dynamics from a discourse network perspective: the debate over air pollution regulation in Germany

“…More specifically, we use discourse network analysis (DNA), a methodology that belongs to the family of social network analysis (SNA). SNA is able to produce abundant empirical evidence on diverse matters, such as the evolution of a debate or the handling of a crisis [ 7 ]. Such information oftentimes appears in the form of network graphs showing the connections (ties) between a set of actors (nodes), or in tables with numeric indicators regarding network measures, such as centrality 2 ([ 58 ], pp.…”

Examining resilience of disaster response system in response to COVID-19

“…As a transboundary crisis, impacts of COVID-19 change and evolve continuously [ 61 ]. Accordingly, DRS constantly evolve in dynamic scenarios to adapt to the changing external conditions.…”