The Politics of Crisis Management

by Arjen Boin

Crisis management has become a defining feature of contemporary governance. In times of crisis, communities and members of organizations expect their leaders to minimize the impact, while critics and bureaucratic competitors make use of social media to blame incumbent rulers and their policies. In this extreme environment, policymakers must somehow establish a sense of normality, and foster collective learning from the crisis experience. In the new edition of this uniquely comprehensive analysis, the authors examine how strategic leaders deal with the challenges they face, the political risks and opportunities they encounter, the pitfalls they must avoid, and the paths towards reform they may pursue. The book is grounded in decades of collaborative, cross-national and multidisciplinary case study research and has been updated to include new insights and examples from the last decade. This is an original and important contribution from experts in public policy and international security.

Genres: Leadership, Nonfiction, Politics, Grad School, School

210 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Dr. Phoenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book with many solid lessons for those interested in the field of Emergency and Crisis and disaster Management Process (CDMP)

While I started this book a while ago, I had to abandon it due to professional teaching obligations (a lack of available time and energy)

This is nevertheless an easy in in-depth read and should take even the uninitiated reader no more than three weeks max if they apply themselves.

The authors have very skillfully aligned some keen insights and a wealth of knowledge in this slim volume. This is, without a doubt one of the most insightful and well-written titles relating to CDMP that I have yet to encounter. This does not mean that it is blemish-free or without warts. By an large one of the strong points is it's unique approach and not merely regurgitating what others have already written previously. They utilize external and secondary sources with parsimony, and make certain that such observations are well-aligned to the points being illustrated.
Okay, enough with the accolades now for the analysis.: This analysis is positive and fairly consistent throughout, but there a re a few points where I diverge with the authors'' viewpoints.

I will present my analysis in chronological form.

P3. there is a personal value judgment relating to the climate change debate which has no place here. A positive reflection was that crisis do not automatically entail victims or damage to infrastructure. Worth bearing in mind.

P.5 Has what is ,in my opinion, one of the most pertinent and important observations in the entire treatise, which is repeated on p.7 para 3. to wit: to paraphrase - crises are self-perpetuating events and cannot be avoided, merely dealt with as effectively as possible. While that origins are varied the cause of the crisis itself is the systems inability to cope or respond to these events. Furthermore, if it were possible to accurately predict a crisis there would most likely be no crisis, or it would fail to manifest itself and overwhelm the response.

P.12 discusses the interesting phenomenon of the "battle of Samaritans." I will leave it to the reader to investigate this

P. 19 The authors raise a most vital point [MVP hereafter] relating to rational design. Crisis detection relies upon both operators and system design if either is lacking or flawed a crisis can emerge.

Pp. 30-32 covers the aspects relating to the human cognitive experience when faced with crisis, to include cognitive bias.

Pp. 35-36 A MVP on the important distinction between the balance of heuristic judgment and experiential knowledge is established.

P.37 The 3 characteristics of resilient organizations are summarized as: Self-awareness, decentralization, and training.

P.45 (section 3.2) speaks of stress- induced failures of leadership and while this is certainly important the authors provide no clarification or insight. Thus they present the problem but no alternative solutions. This being said there is some hint of this in later chapters.

P.46 Examine 2 forms of collective group behavior identified as conflict and conformity. In other words groups tend to wither coalesce or fragment.

Pp 46-49 Examines and analyzes leadership in the context of small group dynamics - useful.

P.50 Multiple advocacy is limited by both time and political constraints.

P.51 the four forms of "non-decision-making" a very useful analysis that indicates not making a decision is also a decision in its own right.

P. 54 Centralization of authority versus decentralization of responsibility.

P.58 the importance of "up-scaling."

P. 62 Mistaken analysis and less funding, training and education.

P. 70 the Authors claim that "In viable democracies there are, of course, legal and ethical as well as practical limits to governmental "news management" in a crisis. Few would argue that this remains the case today following lessons learned with the covid-19 pandemic. governments have become power drunk, control the narrative completely in complicity with Main stream media. There actually remain very few of what may be termed "viable democracies."

P. the role of media in shaping the official narrative

P/ 92 The authors cogently underscore the vital relationship between successful crisis termination and post-crisis accountability

P. 98 a comparative analysis between operational and political closure. The examination of time deficits and over-extensions in crisis management

P.100 Why, What now, What next? The tough questions of post-crisis evaluation.

P.101 The expectations of government response and responsibility.

P.103 Tends to conflate the concepts of sense-making and meaning -making. I found this to be one of the most unclear portions presented. Sources that produce blame generation. Various levels of accountability.

P. 107 Secondary stakeholders during crisis events.

P108. Crises as a source of opportunity. (The authors emphasize the fact is that crisis events present unique opportunities for organizational, operation and structural changes which might, otherwise, never materialize due to political in-fighting and the resultant failure to institute meaningful change)/

P.116 compares puzzling and powering...these concepts are pretty much a matter of common sense.

P.118 MVP Obstacles to lesson-learning both during response and recovery phases.

P.126 Reformist and conservative perspectives of reform.

P.131 Crisis management and reform leadership are entirely incompatible and subscribe to opposing goals.

P.138 Initial definitions of the crisis tend to be persistent. great observation. "What is said cannot be unsaid."

P.142 the spread of bad news tends to be more supported and fostered .

P.146 An astonishing yet true statement by the authors: "A crisis plan may exert some influence in the establishment of a crisis center, but the existence and use of a formal plan do not by any means determine the effectiveness of the crisis response."

P. 147 the importance of plans based upon goals. In other words, a Utilitarian approach where the ends justify the means.

P.148 The importance of building social capital where shared values = shared objectives.

P.150 The importance of documenting all events and decisions in accordance with post-crisis accountability.

P. 152. Accountability versus deflection and denial. Experiential knowledge when combined with historical analysis present the best possible mix or preparedness.

P.153 Combating complacency by fostering leadership commitment results in enhanced motivation.

P.154. The dangers of sweeping reform

[J.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly researched and cited work regarding crises leadership. I respect the intellectual effort, but found most of the conclusions self evident, which leads me to question if the effort really provided any profound value.

[Kiki Abels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boin et al. managed to write a well-argued and concise book on crisis management. They describe the challenges leaders face when a crisis occurs and how these can be tackled.
What I personally liked about the book was that they explained distinctions between all the steps in understandable language, without too much jargon. This makes the book a great recommendation to beginning students (or anyone else with an interest) of crisis management.

[Patrick Sheehan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly dense book. Short and thin to look at, but each part caused me to reflect on my thinking and experiences or to dive deep into the cited sources to learn more about their prescriptions and observations.

A top notch book. It took me forever to read.

Beginners in emergency management / crisis management might benefit from it, but executives with context and seasoning will likely draw more from the pages and sources.

[Erik Gaull · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent analysis of several dimensions of crisis management, mainly focusing on how leaders need to understand and communicate about crises. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in crises/disasters from an academic or political standpoint.

[Kalei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult subject to get into. The book lays out the importance of crisis management, including crisis planning (less plans), but due to the nature of crises, there's never one solution or easy 'this will always work' fix.

[Your favorite troll · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about doomsday. Might recommend. Depends on the day.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important but takeaways seem obvious?

[CJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book divides crisis management into phases as they relate to leadership. In general and for the phases, it examines psychological, political, and sociological tendencies with an eye toward giving strategic advice to leaders on managing the situation and themselves. It's a short book with some interesting examples.