The Crisis Approach

Abstract

Disaster researchers do not make much use of the term “crisis” and when they do, it is often used as a synonym for “disaster”. We argue that the use of these terms implies differences in analytical perspective. In this chapter, we outline the crisis approach and explain how it is different from a disaster approach. The crisis approach is fundamentally interdisciplinary in nature, drawing together insights from public administration, sociology, psychology and political science. We explicate the underlying assumptions of this approach and show that this approach helps to recognize the most important challenges for political and administrative leaders during crises and disasters. We argue that the crisis and disaster perspectives are largely complementary and mutually informative.