While cyberspace has become central to all vital processes in our global economy and our social lives it also carries a wide variety of risks. Framing these risks is no easy feat: some lead to harm... Show moreWhile cyberspace has become central to all vital processes in our global economy and our social lives it also carries a wide variety of risks. Framing these risks is no easy feat: some lead to harm in cyberspace itself, while others lead to harm in the offline world as well. Moreover, sometimes harm is brought about intentionally, while at other times it may be the result of accidents. The ‘cyber harm model’ brings these challenges together, and provides us with an opportunity to get a comprehensive overview of the different types of incidents related to cyberspace. It also reveals where the biggest challenges for cyber crisis management lie and it provides us with a typology of different types of cyber crises that may arise. Cyber-induced crises have characteristics that make them hard to grapple with, for instance the fact that they can be induced remotely and instantaneously at multiple locations. Moreover, cyber crises are not always easily traceable, and sometimes it is difficult to see that the cause of a particular crisis in the offline world is an act in cyberspace. Finally, the borderless nature of cyberspace leads to potential large-scale geographical spread for cyber crises. Cyber crises also lead to a number of specific challenges for leadership, especially with respect to sense-making, meaning-making, decision-making, termination and learning. Show less
Toshkov, D.D.; Carroll, B.J.; Yesilkagit, A.K. 2021
European states responded to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with a variety of public policy measures. In this article we ask what can account for this variation in policy... Show moreEuropean states responded to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with a variety of public policy measures. In this article we ask what can account for this variation in policy responses, and we identify a number of factors related to institutions, general governance and specific health-sector related capacities, societal trust, government type, and party preferences as possible determinants. Using multivariate regression and survival analysis, we model the speed with which school closures and national lockdowns were imposed. The models suggest a number of significant and often counterintuitive relationships: more centralized countries with lower government effectiveness, freedom and societal trust, but with separate ministries of health and health ministers with medical background acted faster and more decisively. High perceived capacity might have provided false confidence to the governments, resulting in a delayed response to the early stages of the pandemic. Furthermore, more right-wing and authoritarian governments responded faster. Show less
Based on philosophical pragmatism, this study builds a model of pragmatist crisis management at the political-strategic level and contrasts it with a principle-guided approach towards political... Show moreBased on philosophical pragmatism, this study builds a model of pragmatist crisis management at the political-strategic level and contrasts it with a principle-guided approach towards political crisis management. It identifies four cornerstons of pragmatist political crisis management and builds a model based on them: anti-dualism, fallibilism, experimentalism and deliberation.This model is applied by analyzing two key political decisions during the U.S. financial crisis: the decision to let the investment bank Bear Stearns fail and the decision to save Lehman Brothers. The empirical analysis reveals how the Bush administration engaged in pragmatist crisis management and overcame its political principles when saving Bear Stearns. The decision to let Lehman Brothers fail, however, is understood as a switch back to principle-guided crisis management. Show less
