Lessons of Disaster : Policy Change after Catastrophic Events.
Title:
Lessons of Disaster : Policy Change after Catastrophic Events.
Author:
Birkland, Thomas A.
ISBN:
9781589013599
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (235 pages)
Series:
American Governance and Public Policy series
Contents:
Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- one: Theories and Models of Policy Change and Learning -- Knowledge, Learning, and Policy Change -- A Model of Event-Related Policy Change -- Learning and Lessons in This Study -- Methods -- The Case Studies -- Conclusions -- two: September 11, Learning, and Policy Change -- What Is Homeland Security? -- Events and Reports: The Emergence of the Homeland Security Problem -- The September 11 Attacks as Focusing Events -- September 11, Policy Failure, Learning, and Change -- Conclusions: Learning after September 11 -- three: Learning from Aviation Security Disasters -- Historical Trends in Aviation Security -- Agenda Change and Security Incidents -- Policy Change, Learning, and Implementation -- Implementation Problems in Aviation Security -- Conclusions -- four: Learning from Earthquakes and Hurricanes -- Why Natural Hazards Matter -- Disaster Mitigation as a Primary Goal of Disaster Policy -- Earthquakes and Hurricanes on National and Local Agendas -- Legislation and Regulation -- Learning from Disasters at the State and Local Level -- Conclusions -- five: Disaster, Learning, and the Possibility of Change -- Learning and the Policy Process -- Revisiting the Propositions -- Focusing Events and the Presumption against Change -- Causes, Objective Lessons, and Learning -- Assessing the Elements of the Model -- Factors That Promote and Inhibit Learning -- Focusing Events and the Accumulation of Knowledge -- Policy Implementation and Lessons -- Hurricane Katrina and the Unlearning of Lessons -- Notes -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.
Abstract:
Even before the wreckage of a disaster is cleared, one question is foremost in the minds of the public: What can be done to prevent this from happening again? Today, news media and policymakers often invoke the lessons of September 11 and the lessons of Hurricane Katrina. Certainly, these unexpected events heightened awareness about problems that might have contributed to or worsened the disasters, particularly about gaps in preparation. Inquiries and investigations are made that claim that lessons were learned from a disaster, leading us to assume that we will be more ready the next time a similar threat looms, and that our government will put in place measures to protect us. In Lessons of Disaster, Thomas Birkland takes a critical look at this assumption. We know that disasters play a role in setting policy agendasùin getting policymakers to think about problemsùbut does our government always take the next step and enact new legislation or regulations? To determine when and how a catastrophic event serves as a catalyst for true policy change, the author examines four categories of disasters: aviation security, homeland security, earthquakes, and hurricanes. He explores lessons learned from each, focusing on three types of policy change: change in the larger social construction of the issues surrounding the disaster; instrumental change, in which laws and regulations are made; and political change, in which alliances are created and shifted. Birkland argues that the type of disaster affects the types of lessons learned from it, and that certain conditions are necessary to translate awareness into new policy, including media attention, salience for a large portion of the public, the existence of advocacy groups for the issue, and the preexistence of policy ideas that can be drawn upon. This timely study concludes with a discussion of the
interplay of multiple disasters, focusing on the initial government response to Hurricane Katrina and the negative effect the September 11 catastrophe seems to have had on reaction to that tragedy.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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