This editorial serves as an introduction to Media and Communication’s thematic issue Policy Framing and Branding in Times of Constant Crisis. Crises cast challenges for political actors and... Show moreThis editorial serves as an introduction to Media and Communication’s thematic issue Policy Framing and Branding in Times of Constant Crisis. Crises cast challenges for political actors and concurrently create opportunities for policymaking, public reflections, and political competition. In times of crisis, when it comes to communicating policymaking but also framing the crisis itself, issues close to political communication (including political marketing and political branding) become of paramount relevance. The eight articles of this issue cover a broad array of subjects, expanding the understanding of the relevance of communication when it comes to policymaking in times of crisis, through the lens of policy framing and policy branding. Show less
Migrant populations have been consistently more vulnerable than others, with their vulnerability being exacerbated in crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. In the meantime, in their effort to ... Show moreMigrant populations have been consistently more vulnerable than others, with their vulnerability being exacerbated in crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. In the meantime, in their effort to “flatten the curve,” governments have been adopting policies that have significantly impacted migration in various ways. The effect of these policies has found migrants suffering disproportionately from the social and economic consequences of the pandemic crisis. Mobility restrictions have stranded them in the host countries, often without decent housing conditions, exacerbating xenophobic and discriminatory treatment of migrants. The study focuses on the case of Portugal and, more specifically, aims to provide a contextual feature of historical discussions of migration in Portugal and explore the perceptions and branding of migration policies in a crisis environment during the Covid-19 pandemic through the framing lens. Using empirical evidence from a frame analysis of parliamentary debates, the article investigates how immigration policies are branded and framed within Portugal, while it also evaluates the role of branding in migration policy-making, particularly in crisis scenarios. Overall, the article underscores the importance of branding in shaping migration policies, emphasising its significance in policy making. Show less
Indian agriculture is widely believed to be in crisis. There is broad consensus among scholar, policymakers and activists that economic hardships and the changing climate have made sustaining a... Show moreIndian agriculture is widely believed to be in crisis. There is broad consensus among scholar, policymakers and activists that economic hardships and the changing climate have made sustaining a livelihood through farming increasingly untenable. There is a strong sense that something has to be done to help farmers deal with the crisis, and in recent years agricultural insurance has been presented as a possible fix for rural distress. This dissertation studies how a new agricultural insurance scheme called PMFBY becomes part of everyday social interactions and experiences. Insurance companies often assert that quantified procedures can accurately - and fairly - calculate the extent of agricultural risk, attach a price tag to it and protect against it. Can quantification really be the antidote to crisis? To answer this question I explore how insurance numbers translate to the everyday experiences of rural people in central Maharashtra. I find that, when seen from the perspective of those encountering them in their daily lives, the numbers are anything but straightforward. The effects of quantification were often arbitrary, and despite promises of transparency, they had a tendency to obscure rather than clarify. In short, the numbers turned out to be inconsistent and ambiguous. The dissertation describes how people attempt to make sense of this ambiguity through their moral understandings. It focusses on the (often heated) discussions, the collective pondering such discussions led to, the personal dilemmas it posed as well as the dreams and aspirations numbers became entwined with. I explore how such quandaries unfold and argue that a focus on the morality of quantification brings to light the social life of numbers beyond their 'objective' factuality. Show less
This chapter charts the position of the European Union (EU) in the global political economy (GPE), identifies key dimensions of change and development, and evaluates the EU’s impact on the... Show moreThis chapter charts the position of the European Union (EU) in the global political economy (GPE), identifies key dimensions of change and development, and evaluates the EU’s impact on the operation of the contemporary GPE. It does so by outlining key ideas in international political economy (IPE), by relating these to the growth of the EU, and by assessing the EU’s role in the GPE in three areas: European integration itself, the EU’s engagement in the GPE, and the EU’s claims to be a major economic power. The final part of the chapter brings these together an examination of global economic governance—in particular, the EU’s role in the financial, multilateral state system with its principles of global governance, and pays some attention to recent crises (such as the Covid-19 pandemic) and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Show less
This article examines the relationship between populism and crisis and highlights its symbiotic character. It outlines some of the debates around the conception of crisis and populism and discusses... Show moreThis article examines the relationship between populism and crisis and highlights its symbiotic character. It outlines some of the debates around the conception of crisis and populism and discusses the critical role of crisis management and exploitation, as an internal strategy for populist actor to interest and attain support. While external causal mechanism could explain the emergence and performance of populist actors in a crisis framed environment, what this article argues is that populism and crisis are overarching, placing crisis management and exploitation as essential theoretical contribution to understanding further populism. Show less
The field of crisis and disaster studies has proliferated over the past two decades. Attention is bound to grow further as the world negotiates the prolonged challenges of the Covid‐19 pandemic. In... Show moreThe field of crisis and disaster studies has proliferated over the past two decades. Attention is bound to grow further as the world negotiates the prolonged challenges of the Covid‐19 pandemic. In this review, we provide an overview of the main foci, methods, and research designs employed in the crisis and disaster research fields in the period of 2001–2020. The review documents that the focus and methods used have not changed much over time. Single case studies and exploratory research prevail, the focus has shifted from preparedness to response, and methodological diversity is limited, but gradually increasing. Future challenges are to understand transboundary crisis management and creeping crises. Advancing the field calls for our community to put more effort in drawing lessons beyond the single case to uncover comparable and universal patterns that connect between events or phases, which help to theorize the multifaceted nature of crisis and disaster management Show less
Este libro pretende entender las transiciones y negociaciones culturales entre arte y política -de 1989 a 2020- a través del análisis de una serie de novelas cubanas. La caída del muro de Berlín... Show moreEste libro pretende entender las transiciones y negociaciones culturales entre arte y política -de 1989 a 2020- a través del análisis de una serie de novelas cubanas. La caída del muro de Berlín tuvo un enorme peso simbólico en el mundo, quizás, tanto como la misma Revolución en su día. Las últimas tres décadas –entre la soviética y la postpandémica– podrían pensarse como un entrelugar en la isla, un afuera del tiempo o un presente incómodo de difícil representación, sobre todo si las leemos desde las dos grandes ideologías en juego. A nivel simbólico, estaríamos hablando de una crisis crónica de características particulares, una que se ha hecho evidente en la novelística a partir de la relación entre sujeto y vivencia. Timmer analiza el malestar del sujeto como síntoma de lo social escapando a los binomios de la Guerra Fría y aborda el presente cubano a través de las múltiples subjetividades e imaginarios de su producción cultural, de su literatura. Show less
Taking the recent omnipresence of crisis rhetoric around the Mediterranean as a starting point, the introduction lays out the main terms of this collection—crisis and critique—in their... Show moreTaking the recent omnipresence of crisis rhetoric around the Mediterranean as a starting point, the introduction lays out the main terms of this collection—crisis and critique—in their interrelation, as it emerges through the matrix of various declared crises in the Mediterranean. If today’s crisis rhetoric often works to restrict political choices and the imagination of alternative futures, can the concept crisis still do the work of critique or produce alternative modes of representation that can voice marginalized subjectivities and liminal experiences? Can crisis become part of contrarian or transformative languages by scholars, activists, and artists or should we forge different grammars to understand present realities in the region? Boletsi, Houwen, and Minnaard unpack the concept crisis and its operations alongside the concept of critique in our professed ‘postcritical times.’ Underscoring the diagnostic rigor of critique in approaches to crisis-frameworks, they plead for critical practices that unravel through forms of translation and comparison rather than through hierarchical models or intellectual detachment. The authors finally revisit the Mediterranean as a cultural, political, and imaginary space, and call for a de-centering of discussions around recent declared crises from Europe to the Mediterranean. By outlining each contribution to this collection, they project the region not only as a hotbed of crises, but also as a breeding ground for new cultures of critique, decolonization, resistance to the governmentality of crisis, and alternative visions of futurity. Show less
Crises can disrupt entire societies and severely affect the lives of the people within them. If a crisis occurs, citizens and other societal actors expect governments to learn from it in order to... Show moreCrises can disrupt entire societies and severely affect the lives of the people within them. If a crisis occurs, citizens and other societal actors expect governments to learn from it in order to prevent the terrible events from happening again in the future, or, at least to be able to respond more effectively to them the next time. However, government organizations generally seem to have major difficulties in learning from crises. Nevertheless, every now and then, they do manage to learn extensively, and change their protocols, implement new policies, open up the organization’s culture, establish new organizational units, introduce training and simulation exercises, or improve communication. Why is it that public organizations sometimes learn from a crisis, but other times do not? The work reported reveals the major factors and mechanisms that explain crisis-induced learning by public organizations. The research draws on data from crisis management documents and interviews with employees of the Dutch food safety services (NVWA) related to four veterinary crises; EU legislation, evaluation reports, newspaper articles, and reports of national and EU parliamentary debates following four major oil spillages; 114 post-crisis evaluation reports in response to 60 crises in the Netherlands; and a survey of Dutch mayors. Show less
To an increasingly greater degree, incidents and crises are dominating daily life. In this context, mayors are seen as the guardian of local society. As commander-in-chief of the municipal... Show more To an increasingly greater degree, incidents and crises are dominating daily life. In this context, mayors are seen as the guardian of local society. As commander-in-chief of the municipal crisis authority, with increasing frequency they are confronted with the extremely difficult task to manage crises effectively. Mayors are expected by many to display more leadership during crises than during normal day-to-day practice. This thesis describes research into antecedents, moderators, outcomes and contingencies of effective leadership behaviour during times of crisis, paying particular attention to the performance of mayors, as heads of local authority, in the Netherlands in their role of crisis manager. What determines the success of the leadership of mayors during crises; their personality, the leadership context (its possible variations), or both? It was demonstrated that agreeableness differs in relevance for autocratic and participative leadership behaviour of the mayor. The extent to which the leadership behaviour in question is effective, was shown to also be determined by the situation. Where an autocratic line of action is sometimes inevitable—when there is high time pressure, the effectiveness of participative leadership behaviour can be connected to different team processes, especially when the crisis situation is characterised by a high level of ambiguity. Show less
