Communicable Crises

Prevention, Response, and Recovery in the Global Arena

Edited by:
Deborah E. Gibbons, Naval Postgraduate School

A volume in the series: Research in Public Management. Editor(s): Lawrence R. Jones, Naval Postgraduate School.

Published 2007

This volume makes a significant contribution to the crisis management literature. It also adds to our inchoate understanding of network governance: temporary teams and task forces, communities of practice, alliances, and virtual organizations. It hints that the distinction between networks and organizations may be somewhat spurious, a matter of degree rather than kind. Indeed, it seems that this distinction may derive more from mental models in which we consistently reify organizations than anything else. Finally, the volume emphasizes the functional importance of leadership in network governance and puzzles over its provision in the absence of hierarchy. As such, it adds to the contributions made by Marc Granovetter (1973), John Seeley Brown and Paul Duguid (1991), Bart Nooteboom (2000), Paul J. DiMaggio (2001), John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt (2001), Laurence O’Toole and Ken Meier (2004), and others, as well as Nancy Roberts’ seminal work on wicked problems and hastily formed teams. The result is a product the editor and the contributors can be proud of. Overall, it is one that will edify, surprise, and delight its readers.

CONTENTS
Foreword, Fred Thompson. Preface, Deborah E. Gibbons. Against Desperate Peril: High Performance in Emergency Preparation and Response, Herman B. “Dutch” Leonard and Arnold M. Howitt. Anticipating Rude Surprises: Reflections on “Crisis Management” Without End, Todd R. La Porte. Technological Transformation of Logistics in Support of Crisis Management, Richard A. Braunbeck III and Michael F. Mastria. Improving Disaster Management Through Structured Flexibility Among Frontline Responders, Claudia Seifert. Asymmetric Information Processes in Extreme Events: The December 26, 2004 Sumatran Earthquake and Tsunami, Louise K. Comfort. Emergent Institutionalism: The United Kingdom’s Response to the BSE Epidemic, Chris Ansell and Jane Gingrich. Maximizing the Impact of Disaster Response by Nonprofit Organizations and Volunteers, Deborah E. Gibbons. How Governments Can Help Businesses Weather a Cataclysmic Disaster, Roxanne Zolin and Fredric Kropp. Globalization and International Communicable Crises: A Case Study of SARS, Teri Jane Bryant, Ilan Vertinsky, and Carolyne Smart. Constraints on the U.S. Response to the 9/11 Attacks, Alasdair Roberts. Support for Crisis Management in Asia-Pacific: Lessons From ADB in the Past Decade, Clay Wescott. Synthesizing Perspectives on Management of Communicable Crises, Deborah E. Gibbons. About the Authors.