Bjørn Ivar Kruke

Reliability-seeking networks in complex emergencies

The purpose of this article is to identify major coordination challenges during complex emergencies, and discuss some theoretical implications of these challenges. The huge increase in non-governmental humanitarian organisations and also military forces involved in emergencies during the last 15 years has put professional coordination on top of the international humanitarian agenda. The main coordination challenge highlighted in recent literature is that lack of authority to coordinate or command hampers decision making. Furthermore, the large number of actors hampers coordination due to competition, different mandates and reluctance to share information. Seeking reliability in coordination within the high-hazard and rapidly changing environment in a complex emergency should rely on resiliency (flexibility and diversity). Flexibility and especially diversity is hard to obtain for one single multi-purpose organisation in the hostile environment of a complex emergency. Thus, a network structure is preferable for humanitarian relief operations.

El Niño-induced droughts in the Colombian Andes: towards a critique of contingency thinking

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the contingency approach to disaster preparedness inhibits proactive management of slow-onset disasters, such as El Nino, with the purpose of advancing disaster risk theory. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on fieldwork data from Narino, Colombia, combined with secondary data and a review of the literature on El Nino and disaster preparedness. Findings Disaster managers in Narino do have contingency plans for El Nino events at their disposal. Yet, these plans do not come into play before impacts reach a certain severity. This “contingency approach” to disaster preparedness appears to stem from the assumption that disaster must come before response, effectively inhibiting proactive responses to El Nino impacts. Research limitations/implications Attributing observed cases of droughts and oral accounts of impacts to the El Nino phenomenon is methodologically challenging. To overcome this, the aim of this study is not the documentation of subjective attributions. Instead, the focus is on bringing to the fore key dilemmas that preparedness professionals may face when they prepare for disasters with a slow onset. Practical implications Developing prevention and preparedness conceptualisations that focus on preemptive measures should ensure a more proactive response to slow-onset disasters. Originality/value Whether slow-onset disasters lend themselves to the same types of risk reduction strategies applied to rapid-onset disasters is a theoretical and practical issue that has not been explored sufficiently in the disaster risk literature.

Crisis governance of the refugee and migrant influx into Europe in 2015: a tale of disintegration

Abstract This paper examines the crisis governance of the refugee and migrant influx into Europe in 2015 through the lenses of Kooiman’s modes of governance. The key theoretical perspectives rest upon the crisis and crisis governance literature and are applied to the initiatives taken by the European Commission and the Council in response to the so-called 2015 migrant and refugee crisis. This article questions the mode(s) of crisis governance applied by the EU to govern the massive influx of migrants and refugees. The main findings indicate that a mixed mode of governance should have been applied strategically, mainly inside the Council, in order to avoid national fragmented responses.

Preparedness: Unpacking and clarifying the concept

Crisis studies increasingly focus on developing proactive strategies to minimize the effects of unwanted occurrences and contingencies. Preparedness constitutes a key component of this approach, as many crises are difficult to prevent. However, at the conceptual and practical levels, it remains difficult to distinguish preparedness from other crisis-related concepts. This study draws on an extensive survey of the preparedness literature with the goal of elucidating its defining attributes. The results show that preparedness can be minimally characterized as measures that are of an active, continuous and anticipatory nature. Contextually definitions, however, may also include social, planned, non-structural or enabling conceptual attributes.