Disaster, Security, and Governance

MAGG Spring 2014Bin Xu

Assistant ProfessorFlorida International University

Disaster without Borders

• Two implications1. Disasters’ physical and social impacts

are beyond national borders2. Politics of morality pertaining to

disasters

Politics of Depoliticizing Disaster

• Naïve but widely held notion of depoliticizing disasters: “disaster above politics”

• Disasters are a matter of management• The normative wish and the reality

Global Policy Field

• Alternative terms: System? Network?• Field: (Bourdieu; Ventresca 2002)1. A field is a space/venue for oppositional

ideas and practices2. Global policy field of disaster: a global

space for struggles among oppositional discourses, powers, and practices about disasters.

Field

Field: Positions&Players

Positions Players• Cristiano Ronaldo• Lionel Messi• Alessandro Nesta• David Moyes

Major Players/Positions

• Nation-states:1. Nation-states as major players in international

organizations for disaster management2. Disaster aids3. Nation-states’ conduits for disaster

management:• The Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance• The Department for International Development

(DFID) (UK)

Major Players/Positions

• Local government1. Direct responders2. Uneven performance

Major Players/Positions

• Regional organizations1. Coordination Center for Natural

Disaster Prevention in Central America (CEPREDENAC)

2. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Major Players/Positions

• International Financial InstitutionsThe World BankAsian Development Bank• More interested in rebuilding

infrastructure; reluctance to cancel debts

Major Players/Positions

• UN-affiliated international organizationsInternational Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Disaster relief departments in UN organizations (UNICEF, WHO)

International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)

• Frank Press proposed an International Decade for Natural Hazard Reduction in 1984; endorsed by the scientific community

• Physical vulnerabilitysocial vulnerability• 1988 a group of scientists approached the UN• UN’s 1989 resolution on IDNDR1. Special High Level Council2. Scientific and Technical Committee3. Secretariat

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

• Successor to IDNDR in the 2000s• More emphasis on human/social

dimension of disaster reduction (reducing vulnerability and building resilient communities)

• The Secretariat criticized (2005 evaluation report)

• The Hyogo Conference (2005)

Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015): Priorities for Action

1. Ensure that disaster risk reduction is a national and a local priority with a strong institutional basis for implementation.

2. Identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and enhance early warning.

3. Use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels.

4. Reduce the underlying risk factors. 5. Strengthen disaster preparedness for effective

response at all levels.

Major Players/Positions

• Non-governmental organizations

• Multi-actor initiatives and partnerships: ProVention (2000—present)

• Scientific, technical, and academic communities

• Mass Media: CNN effect

Major Players/Positions

• Private sector: controversies and less known contributions

Tensions in the Global Policy Field

• Vulnerability: technical or political-social

• Practitioners vs. experts• Politically neutral vs. human rights

approach• Development vs. disaster reduction