Disasters Without Borders

Dramatic scenes of devastation and suffering caused by disasterssuch as the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, are viewed withshock and horror by millions of us across the world. What we rarelysee, however, are the international politics of disaster aid,mitigation and prevention that condition the collective response tonatural catastrophes around the world. In this book, respectedCanadian environmental sociologist John Hannigan argues that theglobal community of nations has failed time and again inestablishing an effective and binding multilateral mechanism forcoping with disasters, especially in the more vulnerable countriesof the South.Written in an accessible and even-handed manner, Disasters withoutBorders it is the first comprehensive account of the keymilestones, debates, controversies and research relating to theinternational politics of natural disasters. Tracing the historicalevolution of this policy field from its humanitarian origins in WWIright up to current efforts to cast climate change as the primeglobal driver of disaster risk, it highlights the ongoing mismatchbetween the way disaster has been conceptualised and theinstitutional architecture in place to manage it. The book'sbold conclusion predicts the confluence of four emerging trends -politicisation/militarisation, catastrophic scenario building,privatisation of risk, and quantification, which could create a newsystem of disaster management wherein 'insurance logic' willreplace humanitarian concern as the guiding principle.Disasters Without Borders is an ideal introductory textfor students, lecturers and practitioners in the fields ofinternational development studies, disaster management, politicsand international affairs, and environmental geography/sociology.