*Apologies for cross-posting*

Conference of Irish Geographers (CIG) CFP ‘Governing Disasters’:

Dear all,

This CFP may be of interest to some members of this list. Apologies for cross-posting.

Governing Disasters

As Governments and policy-makers attempt to regulate and organise for a society at-risk of both natural and anthropogenic disasters, a sense of disorder has developed resulting in an abundance of research and interest in how we should prepare and adapt for these events.  This session is particularly interested in the governance processes that occur before, during and after such events. The nexus between governance, preparedness, and response is critical to understanding how disasters are dealt with as the preparation and response to a disaster depends upon institutional knowledge and the organisation of communities, emergency services, government departments, NGOs, volunteers, and individuals. However, the system that governs potential risks, threats or hazards, changes from place to place and within different spaces, due to differing rules, beliefs and norms.  This can have dramatic effects on how disasters are viewed by the public, how response is financed, and how vulnerability is acknowledged and understood. 

Thus, this session attempts to explore the tensions and challenges that occur when government, policymakers, institutions, organisations and individuals are faced with disaster.  How do they govern these disasters?

The session is not prescriptive and welcomes academics and postgraduate students from both Ireland and abroad interested in natural and anthropogenic disasters and the governance processes surrounding decision-making in this field. We particularly welcome case studies that add to the limited empirical work in the fields of environmental governance and emergency response systems. Areas of potential interest for research papers may include, but are not limited to:

• Urban security;
• Flood risk management;
• Governance processes related to climate change
• Vulnerability to disaster due to institutional organisation;
• Rural governance of disasters;
• Creative ways that danger has been managed and designed for, resulting in communities becoming resilient to disasters; and
• How spatial governance and governmentality, identified by the entrepreneurial turn, relate to disaster management.

Please e-mail abstracts (250 words max) with full detail by Friday 18th March 2016 to:

--