Disaster Paradigms

Question 1

What are paradigms?

Answer 1

Sets of references that frame the way in which science, management, and people understand and act upon the world around them.

Question 2

What are the four paradigms in historical order?

Answer 2

1. Technocratic/control (1960)
2. Behavioral (1970)
3. Vulnerability/structural/political ecology (1990)
4. Complexity / holistic (Present)

Question 3

Explain the Technocratic/control paradigm

Answer 3

Assumes technology is going to safe us and we can control nature
O Top-down controlled projects for disaster prevention
o Enlightenment thinking; modernist control mindset, no space for uncertainty/fatalism
o Based on engineering and technology
o Dominated by engineers and planners

Question 4

Explain the Behavioral paradigm

Answer 4

Assumes people are the problem as we cannot control hazards. So people should move and more rationally behave in a way to be kept out of harm’s way.
o Let to social engineering and behaviorist approaches and give incentives to people to not live in dangerous areas.
o Move people away from the hazard instead of moving the hazard away from people
o Improving human behavior so they do the right thing and not take unnecessary risk (e.g. hurricane chasers or living in flood plain)
o Beliefs in education and incentives, keeping them away from danger
o Supposes you have choices and you can reduce risk yourself – not always the case for marginalized groups
o Dominated by sociologists and geographers, human ecology
o The main criticism at this paradigm is that it neglects the structural relations that caused people to move to risk areas. People often move to those areas because of the pressures of the political economy and not only out of choice. – structural pressures and relations

Question 5

Explain the Vulnerability/structural/political ecology paradigm

Answer 5

Hazards are caused by how humanity interacts with nature and causes particular groups to always be on the margin and more vulnerable.
o We do not have the same degrees of freedom to live in a safe space.
o People do not have choices and are in marginal position > do not have control to be adaptive
o Political ecology: Not everyone has same freedom and choice
o Political economy: Disasters are not only act of nature its embedded in political and economic structures of society. Focuses on understanding underlying forces and mitigate disasters and adapt to its consequences.
o Vulnerability: The extent to which an individual community, sub-group, structure, service of geographic area is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of particular disaster or hazard.
o Dominated by political ecologists, cultural anthropologists

Question 6

What is vulnerability according to the vulnerability paradigm?

Answer 6

Vulnerability: The extent to which an individual community, sub-group, structure, service of geographic area is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of particular disaster or hazard.

Question 7

What is political ecology according to the vulnerability paradigm?

Answer 7

Political ecology: Not everyone has same freedom and choice, therefore some are more vulnerable and exposed than others

Question 8

What is political economy according to the vulnerability paradigm?

Answer 8

Political economy: Disasters are not only act of nature its embedded in political and economic structures of society. Focuses on understanding underlying forces and mitigate disasters and adapt to its consequences.

Question 9

Explain the complexity/ holistic paradigm

Answer 9

Complexity / holistic: Not one thing causes hazards but a collection of effects: butterfly effects
o Nonlinearity: characteristic of a system in which the change of the output is not proportion to the change of the input > see slide 35 ; path dependence, system collapse, cascading effects
o Disaster as incidents revealing structural vulnerabilities, but also connections
o Solutions: Participation, community engagement, mix of technical and social interventions
o Dominated by climatologists

Question 10

What is meant by nonlinearity/system risk within the complexity paradigm?

Answer 10

There is not one linear cause and effect but unrelated factors together that cause the disaster. Explained though:
- high complexity
- transboundary and global in nature
- interconnected relationships between trigger and effects
- tipping points