Theoretical Departures to Disasters and Emergencies

Abstract

Emergencies, disasters, and catastrophes are complex phenomena. Causes and consequences are wide and varied. Perhaps due to the conceptual untidiness and myriad of different actors involved, they have not received adequate theoretical attention. This chapter reviews the existing conceptualizations and expands on the political theory of natural and man-made emergencies. The historical framings of emergencies highlight the different scenarios of knowledge. These scenarios of knowledge revolve around certain cross-cutting themes: humanitarian compassion, containment orientation, preparedness, recovery, and resilience. Emergencies also have an important political modality that is evident in the politics of emergency aid and in the forms of disaster-related diplomacy. Similarly, some emergencies lead to widespread responses while others do not trigger the global reflex of compassion but lead, instead, to acts of indifference or aversion. It seems evident that emergencies ranging from earthquakes to nuclear accidents and pandemic diseases do not represent one single scenario of knowledge. The aim here is to trace and review the various family resemblances between emergency-related scenarios.