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Symbolic, Cognitive, and Structural Obstacles to Formulating Disaster Policy

Special Issue Cassandra’s Curse: The Law and Foreseeable Future Disasters

ISBN: 978-1-78560-299-3, eISBN: 978-1-78560-298-6

Publication date: 17 October 2015

Abstract

This chapter identifies and analyzes three systemic obstacles to American public policy addressing natural disasters: symbolic obstacles, cognitive obstacles, and structural obstacles. The way we talk about natural disaster, the way we think about the risks of building in hazardous places, and structural aspects of American political institutions all favor development over restraint. These forces have such strength that in the wake of most disasters society automatically and thoughtlessly responds by rebuilding what was damaged or destroyed, even if reconstruction perpetuates disaster vulnerability. Only by addressing each of the obstacles identified are reform efforts likely to succeed.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

A version of this Chapter previously appeared in the Brigham Young University Law Review under the title Deconstructing Disaster, 2013 B.Y.U. Law Rev. 213 (2013). I would like to thank Federico Cheever, Brigham Daniels, John Echeverria, Nancy Leong, Justin Marceau, Peter Byrne, Michael Wara, and Annecoos Wiersema for their thoughtful comments. I would also like to thank Elizabeth Hutchinson, Courtney Mcvean, and Stephanie Pham for their outstanding work as my research assistants.

Citation

Pidot, J. (2015), "Symbolic, Cognitive, and Structural Obstacles to Formulating Disaster Policy", Special Issue Cassandra’s Curse: The Law and Foreseeable Future Disasters (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 68), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 33-64. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-433720150000068016

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited