Disasters and the American State
How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Public Prepare for the Unexpected

Disasters and the American State offers a thesis about the trajectory of federal government involvement in preparing for disaster shaped by contingent events.

Patrick S. Roberts (Author)

9781107025868, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 October 2013

236 pages, 17 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.7 cm, 0.52 kg

'… a thoroughly persuasive account of the long and uneven development of what he calls the American 'disaster state'. Roberts' fundamental goal is to help us understand contemporary disaster politics, including how past politics and institutions have given rise to these politics. He draws on insights from the literature on American political development to provide us with this account, which emphasizes the role of historical patterns as well as idiosyncrasies in creating these politics, and their roles in shaping the American state. The book is very well written, provocative, and well researched. Anyone interested in American political development should find it compelling, and of course, disaster scholars may be especially interested.' Logan Strother, Disaster, Property and Politics blog (disasterspropertypolitics.com)

Disasters and the American State offers a thesis about the trajectory of federal government involvement in preparing for disaster shaped by contingent events. Politicians and bureaucrats claim credit for the government's successes in preparing for and responding to disaster, and they are also blamed for failures outside of government's control. New interventions have created precedents and established organizations and administrative cultures that accumulated over time and produced a general trend in which citizens, politicians and bureaucrats expect the government to provide more security from more kinds of disasters. The trend reached its peak when the Federal Emergency Management Agency adopted the idea of preparing for 'all hazards' as its mantra. Despite the rhetoric, however, the federal government's increasingly bold claims and heightened public expectations are disproportionate to the ability of the federal government to prevent or reduce the damage caused by disaster.

1. From disaster relief to disaster management
2. The origins of the disaster state, 1789–1914
3. Civil defense and the foundations of disaster policy, 1914–79
4. The rise of emergency management and FEMA, 1979–2001
5. Terrorism and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, 1993–2003
6. 'Where the hell is the Army?' Hurricane Katrina meets the homeland security era
7. Administrative evil and elite panic in disaster management
8. Disasters and the American state.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], Social impact of disasters [JFFC]