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2019 | Book | 1. edition

Organizing for Societal Security and Crisis Management: Governance Capacity and Legitimacy Read chapter Read first chapter

Societal Security and Crisis Management

Governance Capacity and Legitimacy

Editors: Per Lægreid, Lise H. Rykkja

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : New Security Challenges

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This book studies governance capacity and governance legitimacy for societal security and crisis management. It highlights the importance of building organizational capacity by focusing on the coordination of public resources and underscores the relevance of legitimacy by emphasizing the importance of public perceptions, attitudes, and trust vis-à-vis government arrangements for crisis management. The authors explore several cases and identify relevant dimensions concerning performance, capacity and legitimacy across different countries. It is an ideal volume for audiences interested in public administration, public policy, crisis management and security studies.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Organizing for Societal Security and Crisis Management: Governance Capacity and Legitimacy
Abstract
This book is about how governments deal with crises. Our world is a turbulent one full of intractable problems. Threats such as terrorism and natural disasters have increased the ‘fear factor’ in recent years, making crisis management a high priority for political leaders. Planning and preparing for the unexpected and unknown, dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty and responding to urgency at the same time as meeting citizens’ expectations are difficult tasks for the political leadership and the public administration. This chapter introduces the main topic of the book and presents the different chapters included. The first part of the book addresses the topic of governance capacity in government administrative arrangements. The second part revolves around government capacity in crisis management in specific types of crises and country settings. The third part is concerned with governance legitimacy and how the citizens assess threats and government actions in crisis management.
Tom Christensen, Per Lægreid, Lise H. Rykkja

Governance Capacity: Mapping the Administrative Arrangements

Frontmatter
Chapter 2. Organizing for Societal Security and Crisis Management in Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK
Abstract
The chapter addresses government arrangements for societal security and crisis management in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. It gives an overview of organizational arrangements in central government, describes central changes since 11 September 2001 and outlines the motivations for change. The chapter reveals a fragmented, complex and varied administrative landscape characterized by sectorization and decentralization. There is a drive towards increased focus on coordination and centralization over time but there is no convergence towards one unified model across countries. Major crises are major triggers for changes in the administrative apparatus. Over time, the ‘hybridity’ have increased due to the emergence of more network arrangements. It is a layered system in which new arrangements are added to the existing through incremental and pragmatic reforms.
Johannes S. Førde, Per Lægreid, Kristin Rubecksen, Lise H. Rykkja
Chapter 3. Beyond Loose Couplings in Crisis Preparedness: The Role of Coordination Agencies in Sweden and Norway
Abstract
Across national settings, an emerging trend is the establishment of designated administrative capacities at the central governmental level aimed at forging stronger coordination. This chapter discusses the institutional set-up for crisis management coordination in Sweden and Norway, emphasizing the current and potential role of these relatively newly formed capacities. The chapter adopts an organizational–institutional approach in order to contextualize the rather loose coupling between strategic and operational aspects of crisis management that we observe. These newly formed capacities, or ‘coordinating agencies’, act as boundary spanners in the policy field, but doing so with relatively soft measures. Based on a qualitative comparative analysis, the chapter argues that these entities may, over time, forge a closer coupling between the strategic and operational aspects of crisis management.
Ole A. Danielsen, Johannes S. Førde

Crisis Management and Governance Capacity: Case Studies

Frontmatter
Chapter 4. The Flood Crisis in Germany 2013
Abstract
In 2013, large floods affected Germany heavily. The natural disaster transcended jurisdictional and organisational boundaries, necessitating a coordinative effort by disaster relief forces and their administrative and political leadership. In the aftermath, politicians and experts praised the improvement of the German system of crisis management, also in direct comparison with the response to the last German “flood of the century” of 2002. This chapter takes a public policy and organisational perspective to analyse the German disaster relief governance throughout all four crisis management phases. By highlighting the central features of the German governance arrangements and the main organisational changes implemented in reaction to the previous flood in 2002, we find that Whole-of-Government approaches are increasingly used by the federal and Länder government.
Werner Jann, Bastian Jantz, Alexander Kühne, Lena Schulze-Gabrechten
Chapter 5. Flood Crisis Management in England
Abstract
This chapter addresses the management of flood crises in the UK over the course over the past two decades. The repeated incidents of flooding have encouraged an increasing centralisation of authority, in particular the Environment Agency. Initiatives included also greater coordination between different actors, including weather forecasting, warning systems and flood defence systems. At the same time, centralisation of authority has also encouraged greater politicisation as ministers sought to use the agency as blame magnet during flood events. This highlighted that moves towards greater ‘professionalisation’ and coordination were continuously confronted by questions about the redistributive impact of different flood mitigation schemes.
Martin Lodge
Chapter 6. Only Trees Burning? The Mid-Sweden Forest Fire of 2014
Abstract
The major forest fire in the province of Västmanland, during August of 2014 was an unexpected incident. The environmental prerequisites for a firestorm type of development that is present in exempli gratia Greece, and California should not exist in the subarctic biotope that caught fire on July 31 at Seglingsberg in Sala municipality. The aim of this chapter, Swedish crisis management effort in response to a forest fire in central Sweden, in 2014. In order to do so, it probes a number of challenges that were posed to the crisis response system, such as situational awareness, formal responsibilities, coordination with local and national actors, information to the public and evacuation
Fredrik Bynander
Chapter 7. A Toxic Cloud of Smoke: Communication and Coordination in a Transboundary Crisis
Abstract
This chapter analyses what should have been a routine crisis: a fire at a chemical plant near Rotterdam. At the operational level, it was effectively treated as a routine incident. The fire services performed adequately. But this routine crisis turned into a stress test for the Dutch crisis response system. As a cloud of smoke crossed the local and regional boundaries that make up the Dutch system, collaboration between the safety regions began to flounder. Different actors communicated different messages to the public. The national level became involved. In the end, the response appeared chaotic and ineffective. This chapter analyses how and why the Dutch national response system could not cope with this prototype of a transboundary crisis.
Arjen Boin, Sanneke Kuipers, Tim de Jongh
Chapter 8. The 2015 Refugee Crisis in Sweden: A Coordination Challenge
Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to analyse the conditions for coordination within and between key government agencies during the transboundary and ambiguous Swedish refugee crisis in 2015. It is argued that cooperation between the key agencies could have been more efficient if the government had stated more clearly the conditions of their respective remits. Most importantly, the Migration Agency was under great pressure already before the crisis, and when its activities were not functioning in various areas, problems arose for other government agencies as well. Eventually, however, the government did manage to mobilize capacity and therefore also to secure public legitimacy for the way the crisis was handled.
Gunnar Myrberg
Chapter 9. Suburban Eruption—The Management of Social Unrest in the Suburbs of Stockholm in 2011
Abstract
During the evening of 19 May, the celebration of Sweden’s gold medal in the hockey World Championship took place in the centre of the city, while reports began coming in of an unusually large number of vehicles being set on fire in Husby. During the night, additional vehicles, and even a school and a garage, were set ablaze. Police and rescue personnel were attacked when they arrived on the scene, adding to the event an unusual component in that the police also had to protect the rescue workers on site. The riots in Husby that spread across the Stockholm suburbs lasted for two weeks, although there was nothing to indicate early on that it would last this long, and what crisis management needs would arise.
Mats Koraeus, Fredrik Bynander
Chapter 10. The 2011 London Riots: Civil Disorder and Government Non-responses
Abstract
This chapter discusses the riots in London and other cities in England in 2011. This incident of widespread civil disorder attracted initial political interest that, however, quickly faded away. This pattern was particularly remarkable as there was an initial agreement on the main sources of the riots, which were linked to the criticism of the asymmetric racial effect of policing methods and deprivation. The London riots highlight a critical question for studies of societal security, namely the problem of addressing civil disorder when the legitimacy of the state is questioned by considerable minority in the population.
Martin Lodge
Chapter 11. Changes in the Norwegian Central Crisis Management After the Terrorist Attacks in 2011
Abstract
This chapter addresses organizational change within the field of societal security in Norway after the terrorist attacks on 22 July 2011, focusing on the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. We describe changes in the internal organization and external relations focusing on formal structure, networks, demography and regulatory arrangements. Structural changes, replacement of executives, regulatory changes and network arrangements have been introduced. The changes have been within the existing administrative order. The ministry’s role as a lead and coordinating ministry has been strengthened, but within the constraints of the principle of ministerial responsibility. The terrorist attack did not lead to a major and immediate change. The changes can instead be understood as gradual institutional change in line with the Norwegian tradition of pragmatic incremental reforms.
Susan B. Jensen, Per Lægreid, Lise H. Rykkja
Chapter 12. Crisis Management Capacity in Central Government: The Perceptions of Civil Servants in Norway
Abstract
This chapter examines the civil servants’ perceptions regarding their capacity to prevent and handle crisis based on surveys of Norwegian ministries and central agencies conducted in 2006 and 2016. We ask if there has been a change in their perceptions after the terrorist attacks in Norway in 2011. We also analyse variations in crisis management capacity due to structural factors such as policy field, tasks and position and cultural factors such as mutual trust relations and identification. The main findings are that the civil servants have a rather high self-confidence regarding their ability to prevent and handle crises that there is high stability in their perceptions from 2006 to 2016 and that variations to a great extent can be explained by both structural and cultural factors.
Tom Christensen, Per Lægreid

Crisis Management and Governance Legitimacy

Frontmatter
Chapter 13. A Political Assassination and a Crisis of Legitimacy: The Murder of Pim Fortuyn
Abstract
The murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 shocked the nation. Fortuyn had challenged the political order by winning the local elections in Rotterdam. He was poised to win the national elections, which were to be held just weeks after his death. Fortuyn sought to represent the ‘forgotten men and women’. The reaction to his assassination was ferocious: the parliament was nearly stormed and the legitimacy of the incumbent order rapidly declined. This chapter analyses the effort of national politicians to manage this legitimacy crisis.
Arjen Boin, Sanneke Kuipers, Tim de Jongh
Chapter 14. The Refugee Crisis in Germany: New Coordination Structures to Repair Organisational Legitimacy
Abstract
This chapter analyses the creation of novel cross-sectoral and multi-level coordination arrangements inside the German federal bureaucracy during the recent refugee crisis. We argue that the refugee crisis can be considered as an administrative crisis that challenged organisational legitimacy. Various novel coordination actors and arenas were set up in order to enhance governance capacity. Yet, all of them have been selected from a well-known pool of administrative arrangements. As a consequence, those novel coordination arrangements did not replace but rather complement pre-existing patterns of executive coordination. Hence, the recent refugee crisis exemplifies how bureaucracies effectively adapt to changes in their surroundings via limited and temporary adjustments that coexist with existing organisational arrangements. Thus, the observed changes in coordination structures contribute to repairing organisational legitimacy by increasing governance capacity.
Ina Radtke, Julia Fleischer
Chapter 15. Countering Fear: Democratic States’ Ability to Ease Citizens’ Fear of Terrorism
Abstract
Fighting fear is a crucial part of counterterrorist policies. Faced with terrorism, citizens look to the state for protection. Therefore, our chapter links fear of terrorism to features of the state, especially whether democratic states are capable of reducing fear among its citizens. We employ a cross-national comparative approach using data from the 2014 World Values Survey on a sample of 57,294 individuals across 49 countries. We find that there is substantial cross-country variance in citizens’ fear of terrorism. The results suggest that fear is more widespread among citizens in non-democratic countries compared to citizens in democratic countries. Actual exposure to terrorist attacks has no impact on citizen’s fear of terrorism when we account for whether the country is a democracy or not.
Dag Arne Christensen, Jacob Aars
Chapter 16. Counterterrorist Legislation and Beliefs in Democracy: A Longitudinal Study
Abstract
Counterterrorist legislation has been on the rise in many democracies after 9/11. While this may be necessary to strengthen the state’s capacity to detect and avoid terrorist attacks, it may also restrain the liberties of residents in the country where they apply. This chapter asks whether the introduction of counterterrorist legislation affects people’s attitudes towards democracy. We analyse this by combining country-level data on legislative responses to terrorism, and individual-level data on attitudes towards democracy. The findings indicate that the average number of counterterrorist regulation negatively affects satisfaction with democracy, but within each country changes in such legislation do not. Overall, changes in counterterrorist legislation are unrelated to satisfaction with democracy. Why this is the case is an important subject for further research.
Dag Arne Christensen, Jacob Aars, Lise H. Rykkja
Chapter 17. The July 22 Terrorist Attacks in Norway and Citizens’ Attitudes Toward Counterterrorist Authorities
Abstract
Based on two surveys, conducted before and after the 2011 terror attacks in Norway, this chapter studies the attacks’ effects on people’s attitudes toward institutions and governmental policies related to security. The study shows that citizens are less satisfied with governmental policies after the attacks, but there is little change with regard to general confidence in institutions responsible for security. Citizens’ party preferences prior to the attacks are crucial to understanding how individuals respond to security policies after the attack. On issues of security, the distance between right-wing voters and other voters increased after the attack. Overall, Norwegians have become less satisfied with policies on security-related issues. Even in a country where politicians responded to the crisis with an appeal to togetherness and common values, citizens’ attitudes on security policies were politicized.
Dag Arne Christensen, Jacob Aars
Chapter 18. Governance Capacity and Legitimacy Revisited
Abstract
In this book, we have argued for the need to address both governance capacity and governance legitimacy in order to understand crisis management. The closing chapter summarizes and discusses the main findings, and outlines lessons learned and topics for further research.
Per Lægreid, Lise H. Rykkja
Chapter 19. Appendix: Institutional Arrangements Within the Field of Societal Security and Crisis Management in Germany, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK. 2018
Abstract
In this chapter, we briefly describe the most important administrative structures of the crisis management systems of the countries under study.
Arjen Boin, Fredrik Bynander, Werner Jann, Lena Schulze-Gabrechten, Martin Lodge, Per Lægreid, Kristin Rubecksen, Lise H. Rykkja, Annbjørg Ryssdal
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Societal Security and Crisis Management
Editors
Per Lægreid
Lise H. Rykkja
Copyright Year
2019
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-92303-1
Print ISBN
978-3-319-92302-4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92303-1

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