Disaster Management in China in a Changing Era [Paperback]

This book shows how Chinese officials have responded to popular and international pressure, while at the same time seeking to preserve their own careers, in the context of disaster management. Using the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake as a case study, it illustrates how authoritarian regimes are creating new governance mechanisms in response to the changing global environment and what challenges they are confronted with in the process. The book examines both the immediate and long-term effects of a major disaster on Chinas policy, institutions, and governing practices, and seeks to explain which factors lead to hasty and poorly conceived reconstruction efforts, which in turn reproduce the very same conditions of vulnerability or expose communities to new risks. In short, it tells a political story of how intra-governmental interactions, state-society relations, and international engagement can shape the processes and outcomes of recovery and reconstruction.

Chapter 1 Introduction: Non-democracies in a Changing Era.- Chapter 2 Evolvement of Disaster Management Practices in China.- Chapter 3 Agency Problems in Disaster Response.- Chapter 4 Post-disaster Changes in Local Governance and Chances for Non-state Sector Development.- Chapter 5 A Note on Generality, Variation, and Implications.- Appendix: Notes on Fieldwork and Data Collection.

The author did her BA in Philosophy at Fudan University, MPhil in Government & International Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University, and PhD in Political Science at Yale University. She joined the staff of Hong Kong Baptist University in 2011. Her research area is Comparative Politics, Chinese Politics, and Disaster Management.

Draws attention back to the importance of moral underpinnings of regime

Uses the politics of disaster relief to shed light on how authoritarian regimes adapt

Attends to the micro-transitions that manifest in large-scale changes l#6