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This book analyses the making of the international world of ‘natural’ disasters by its professionals. Through a long-term ethnographic study of this arena, the author unveils the various elements that are necessary for the construction of an international world: a collective narrative, a shared language, and standardized practices. The book analyses the two main framings that these professionals use to situate themselves with regards to a disaster: preparedness and resilience, arguing that the making of the world of ‘natural’ disasters reveals how heterogeneous, conflicting, and sometimes competing elements are put together.
Disaster policies present a new challenge to the practitioners and students of global politics; this book explains how political science enriches the contribution of the social sciences to the study of disaster relief, aid and reconstruction following the major disaster events, both natural and man-made, of recent times.
Grassroots memorials have become major areas of focus during times of trauma, danger, and social unrest. These improvised memorial assemblages continue to display new and more dynamic ways of representing collective and individual identities and in doing so reveal the steps that shape the national memories of those who struggle to come to terms with traumatic loss. This volume focuses on the hybrid quality of these temporary memorials as both monuments of mourning and as focal points for protest and expression of discontent. The broad range of case studies in this volume include anti-mafia shrines, Theo van Gogh’s memorial, September 11th memorials, March 11th shrines in Madrid, and Carlo Giuliani memorials in Genoa.
Official figures classify some fifty million of the world’s people as 'victims of forced displacement'. Refugees, asylum seekers, disaster victims, the internally displaced and the temporarily tolerated - categories of the excluded proliferate, but many more are left out of count. In the face of this tragedy, humanitarian action increasingly seems the only possible response. On the ground, however, the 'facilities' put in place are more reminiscent of the logic of totalitarianism. In a situation of permanent catastrophe and endless emergency, 'undesirables' are kept apart and out of sight, while the care dispensed is designed to control, filter and confine. How should we interpret the disturbing symbiosis between the hand that cares and the hand that strikes? After seven years of study in the refugee camps, Michel Agier reveals their 'disquieting ambiguity' and stresses the imperative need to take into account forms of improvisation and challenge that are currently transforming the camps, sometimes making them into towns and heralding the emergence of political subjects. A radical critique of the foundations, contexts, and political effects of humanitarian action.
Energy risk and security have become topical matters in Western and international policy discussions; ranging from international climate change mitigation to investment in energy infrastructures to support economic growth and more sustainable energy provisions. As such, ensuring the resilience of more sustainable energy infrastructures against disruptions has become a growing concern for high-level policy makers. Drawing on interviews, participant observation, policy analysis, and survey research, this book unpacks the work of the authorities, electricity companies, and lay persons that keeps energy systems from failing and helps them to recover from disruptions if they occur. The book explo...
This book examines the history of disaster management in South Africa, showing how experts, professionals and policymakers have crafted and implemented disaster policies from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. It assesses the ways in which states become concerned with disasters, the extent to which disaster management contributes toward state formation, and who and what disaster management protects. It also considers the ways in which the politics of protection continuously shift as political regimes change. In telling the story of how policies surrounding disaster protection have evolved in South Africa, the book demonstrates how the security apparatus that shaped disaster management was re-oriented in the twenty-first century towards development, alongside bureaucratic reforms that aimed to democratize the state. By examining the wider context of the globalization of disaster management, it also highlights the often unrecognised role of experts from Africa, Latin America and Asia in shaping global disaster policies. The book will appeal to scholars and students of disaster governance, public policy, state formation, and African politics.
EPDF and EPUB available open access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations have increased at the United Nations (UN) since the 1990s. Yet few studies discuss the notion of inclusion and what it entails in intergovernmental negotiations. This book delves into the UN’s relationship with CSOs, exploring who participates in negotiations and how their input is integrated into ratified documents. Drawing on ethnographic research, the author uncovers the complexities of accreditation, participation, and the interpretation of CSOs’ contributions. Offering a sociological analysis, she highlights the increased exclusion of CSOs despite their apparent inclusion in institutions of global governance unbounded to public accountability. Leah R. Kimber examines the practices of exclusion CSOs are subjected to in UN negotiations by opening the machinery of intergovernmental negotiations in light of the UN’s future and legitimacy.
A long environmental history of the Aral Sea region, focusing on colonization and development in Russian and Soviet Central Asia.
From international NGOs to UN agencies, from donors to observers of humanitarianism, opinion is unanimous: in a context of the alleged "clash of civilizations", our "humanitarian space" is shrinking. Put another way, the freedom of action and of speech of humanitarians is being eroded due to the radicalisation of conflicts and the reaffirmation of state sovereignty over aid actors and policies. The purpose of this book is to challenge this assumption through an analysis of the events that have marked MSF's history since 2003 (when MSF published its first general work on humanitarian action and its relationships with governments). It addresses the evolution of humanitarian goals, the resistan...