The Role of Political Science in Disaster Studies: Unrealized Potential.

This paper describes the contributions that political scientists have and can make to understand key socio-political aspects of natural and technological hazards and disasters. Such research can help us understand how these phenomena work, but Considerable public attention, at both mass and elite levels, has been paid to the political, policy, and administrative aspects of natural disasters since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. While other social science disciplines have been historically more attentive to natural hazards and disasters as important aspects of social science, a relatively small number of political scientists and policy process scholars have studied or are studying natural disasters. Not, not surprisingly given the scale of Hurricane Katrina, a considerable number of papers on the subject appeared on the program of the 2006 American Political Science Association, and interest in what disasters can teach us in political science has increased considerably. The papers presented at APSA included important aspects of Katrina and of hazards in general, including racial and class issues, urban politics and urban form, and problems of policy design, management, and implementation.Many of these papers were useful, and represent potential advancements in understanding, but many also shared a similar and troubling characteristic: they failed-sometimes in crucial ways-to reference the existing social science literature on natural disasters. Thus, some political scientists accept disaster myths (about looting and panic, for example) as truths. Others fail to fully understand the policy environment in which disaster policy is made or the substance of disaster policy itself. On the other hand, political scientists have a unique ability to understand the importance of institutions and individuals in the process of governance. This avenue of research could extend on the findings of sociologists that networks of people and organizations are important in disaster response and recovery. While networks are important, political scientists can illuminate how these networks perform within a set of formal and informal rules. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]