Benny is correct that it is important to focus on "real failures" so we can be "better prepared".
I was trying to do precisely that in my earlier message when I shared the empirical results of in depth interviews with 22O municipal level emergency managers in the constituent cities and jurisdictions of the 6 megacities in our UNU project. We also interview more than 150 civil society (NGO) representatives.
An issue that emerged was mutual lack of trust. That represents a "real failure" and it has very practical implications for what Benny refers to as "welfare of disaster victims." Lack of trust underlies bad communication and poor coordination. Municipalities were cut of from information about marginal groups of people that is vital for planning. This applied across the board, in Tokyo and Los Angeles as well as the other megacities.
I would be surprised if much the same was not true in New Orleans prior to Katrina.
For the sake of communal peace on this important discussion list, I'd like to agree to disagree with Benny about whether the vast literature concerning marginality, subaltern groups, "weapons of the weak", parallel economies, retreat of the state, benign neglect, etc., etc. has "practical" relevance. I happen to think it does, and as an aid to organizing all this data from sociology and anthropology, I also happen to think that political and social philosophy provide frameworks. Benny disagrees. Peace. Fine. Let's move on. There is a lot of work to do.
BEN
Dr. Ben Wisner
Oberlin College, Ohio
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-----Original Message-----
From: "Peiser, Benny" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sep 8, 2005 11:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: nation state
I very much doubt that there is an existential crisis of the nation state, particularly
not in democratic countries that tend to address societal or economic problems or those
caused by natural disasters by way of throwing incompetent governemts out of power.
Obviously, every large-scale disaster triggeres a sever crisis, but in most cases
these are short-term and, if handled effetively, overcome fairly quickly. I suggest
that people interested in the welfare of disaster victims should focus on the real
failures that have occurred during the Katrina tragedy so that emergency managers
and relief organisations are better prepared for all the future disasters that are
inevitable. I fail to see how a philosphical debate about the nation state can benefit
anyone affected by recent or future disasters.
Benny Peiser
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