Federalism And Disaster Response

Much of the published work on disaster response has focused on specific disasters, highlighting what went wrong. Taking a new approach, this book explores ways in which transformational leadership principles may be applied to an organization’s disaster preparation and response, moving the organization away from a competitive or top-down approach and toward a more collaborative one. Rather than focus on centralizing responsibility, with commands emanating from the top, author William Lester offers readers a new paradigm, with step by step instructions on placing transformative and collaborative systems front and center, in order to develop a sustainable disaster response system – one that is not centered on a specific leader or time, but instead focuses on the changes needed to build a system that can outlive any one leader. Implementation plans to move from concept into workable, effective strategies that can be used immediately are included. Assuming no prior background in either organizational theory or disaster response systems, the book offers practical examples and hands-on explorations of the responses to Hurricanes Sandy, Harvey, Irma, and Maria, written by experts who know those disasters best – delivering important insight into what elements make the best disaster response system.

This book looks at various aspects of the current legal, policy and fiscal framework for disaster management and its current effects on local capacity building and recommends systemic reform. The authors argue that resources should be used more efficiently and with more flexibility in order to promote local self-reliance and increased resilience. The book presents evidence-based options for policy makers at all levels of government to envision and implement alternative approaches that meet the increasing challenges of the 21st century.

Federalism and disaster response : examining the roles and responsibilities of local, state, and federal agencies : hearing before the Committee on Homeland Security, House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, October 19, 2005.

The COVID-19 pandemic bared the inadequacies in existing structures of public health and governance in most countries. This book provides a comparative analysis of policy approaches and planning adopted by federal governments across the globe to battle and adequately respond to the health emergency as well as the socio-economic fallouts of the pandemic. With twenty-four case studies from across the globe, the book critically analyzes responses to the public health crisis, its fiscal impact and management, as well as decision-making and collaboration between different levels of government of countries worldwide. It explores measures taken to contain the pandemic and to responsibly regulate and manage the health, socio-economic welfare, employment, and education of its people. The authors highlight the deficiencies in planning, tensions between state and local governments, politicization of the crisis, and the challenges of generating political consensus. They also examine effective approaches used to foster greater cooperation and learning for multi-level, polycentric innovation in pandemic governance. One of the first books on federalism and approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, this volume is an indispensable reference for scholars and researchers of comparative federalism, comparative politics, development studies, political science, public policy and governance, health and wellbeing, and political sociology.

"The objective of this report is to identify and establish a roadmap on how to do that, and lay the groundwork for transforming how this Nation- from every level of government to the private sector to individual citizens and communities - pursues a real and lasting vision of preparedness. To get there will require significant change to the status quo, to include adjustments to policy, structure, and mindset"--P. 2.

This comprehensive scholarly book on comparative federalism and the Covid-19 pandemic is written by some of the world’s leading federal scholars and national experts. The Covid-19 pandemic presented an unprecedented emergency for countries worldwide, including all those with a federal or hybrid-federal system of government, which account for more than 40 per cent of the world’s population. With case studies from 19 federal countries, this book explores the core elements of federalism that came to the fore in combatting the pandemic: the division of responsibilities (disaster management, health care, social welfare, and education), the need for centralisation, and intergovernmental relations and cooperation. As the pandemic struck federal countries at roughly the same time, it provided a unique opportunity for comparative research on the question of how the various federal systems responded. The authors adopt a multidisciplinary approach to question whether federalism has been a help or a hindrance in tackling the pandemic. The value of the book lies in understanding how the Covid-19 pandemic affected federal dynamics and how it may have changed them, as well as providing useful lessons for how to combat such pandemics in federal countries in the future. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of politics and international relations, comparative federalism, health care, and disaster management. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Assigning blame for the inadequate emergency relief to save life and property in the wake of Hurricane Katrina can be explained by examining the breakdown of the federal government's epic failure in response to the storm. As our founding fathers intended in our federal system, the power is divided among national, state, and local governments. Many believe that our federal system played a major role which led to the inadequate response to hurricane victims. Had our representative government not been divided among three independent government bodies, we might have been able to act faster in delivering aid to those who were suffering and needed it most. Furthermore, the representatives from the federal government shifted responsibility and quickly assigned blame to the local governments. The reason being, local government is closer in proximity to the victims of the storm and are supposed to have a plan in place ready to assist in providing disaster relief until federal assistance is available. With the number of actors, and the multiple representatives from overlapping levels who failed the citizens of Louisiana, it is difficult to determine who to hold responsible. If political party affiliation influences attitudes about our federalist system, we may be in for an even wider political divide.