Crisis Management

Events like epidemics, earthquakes, floods, bushfires, or financial collapse pose significant challenges to societies that encounter them. Governments engage in crisis management to prepare for, respond to, and recover from such extreme events. Hence, crisis management is a key part of public policy design and implementation. The bad news is that while individual extreme events are rare, crisis of some kind is likely to occur regularly. The good news is that scholars and practitioners have developed ideas and tools for handling them. This seminar will focus on conceptual approaches to and theories of crisis management. In addition to readings selected from the best in the field, students will engage in class group discussions and scenario-based exercises.