The Government of Disasters

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.

Explores how the South African state bureaucracy reacts to disasters Contributes to debates on disaster management, state transformation, and governance Outlines what can be recognised as a disaster within the context of disaster management

Auteur
Lydie Cabane is Assistant Professor in Governance of Crises at Leiden University, The Netherlands. Her research interests include public policy, expertise, and the governance of crises.

Contenu
Chapter 1. Disasters and the state in South Africa.- Chapter 2. Of Bombs and Natural Risks: Inventing Disasters in Colonial and Apartheid South Africa.- Chapter 3. Disaster Connections: Knowledge, Democracy and Policy Change.- Chapter 4. Reforming the State: The Institutionalisation of Disaster Management.- Chapter 5. Disciplining Disasters: Science and the Government of Disasters.- Chapter 6. Protecting the 'Most Vulnerable'? The Management of a Disaster and the Making/Unmaking of Victims after Xenophobic Violence in 2008 in South Africa.- Chapter 7. Conclusion.