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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Challenges To Coordination: Understanding Intergovernmental Friction During Disasters (Pre Print), Daniel P. Aldrich Dec 2019

Challenges To Coordination: Understanding Intergovernmental Friction During Disasters (Pre Print), Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

While idealized crisis response involves smooth coordination between relevant actors, friction between levels of government and between the state and civil society in responding to catastrophe may be more common. This article builds a theory of cross-level friction during and after crisis by analyzing the conditions when discord is most likely. With a medium-N dataset (N = 18) of disaster responses from, among other countries, Chile, Haiti, Japan, North America, the Philippines, and Somalia, I carry out quantitative and qualitative analysis of cases with a variety of levels of friction to investigate the conditions that lead to misalignment. Tobit regression, …


Countering Violent Extremism In Trinidad And Tobago: An Evaluation, Daniel P. Aldrich, Raghunath Mahabir Sep 2019

Countering Violent Extremism In Trinidad And Tobago: An Evaluation, Daniel P. Aldrich, Raghunath Mahabir

Daniel P Aldrich

Much research has focused on explaining the very high rate of radicalization among a small number of Caribbean island nations. This paper instead investigates the history and current status of countering violent extremism policies in Trinidad and Tobago, focusing on government, international partners, and local NGO programming in the field. Through an analysis of extended interviews with grassroots organizations, politicians, and members of the security administration alongside a desk review of existing literature and evaluations of CVE programming, we seek to illuminate gaps between official policies and actual, on the ground practices. While authorities in Trinidad and Tobago have recognized …


Social Ties Are The Engine Of Resilience, Daniel P. Aldrich, Danae Metaxa, Paige Maas Jul 2018

Social Ties Are The Engine Of Resilience, Daniel P. Aldrich, Danae Metaxa, Paige Maas

Daniel P Aldrich

Many deaths that occur during events such as flooding, fires, hurricanes and mudslides, could be prevented by leaving vulnerable areas, but people don’t always move, even after receiving evacuation orders or warnings of imminent risk. To understand why, the authors worked with Facebook to understand evacuation patterns based on the structure of people’s social networks before, during and after hurricanes. We found that social networks, especially connections to those beyond immediate family, influence decisions to leave or stay in place before disasters.


Creating Community Resilience Through Elder-Led Physical And Social Infrastructure, Daniel P. Aldrich, Emi Kiyota Dec 2016

Creating Community Resilience Through Elder-Led Physical And Social Infrastructure, Daniel P. Aldrich, Emi Kiyota

Daniel P Aldrich

Objective: Natural disasters and rapidly aging populations are chronic problems for societies worldwide. We investigated the effects of an intervention in Japan known as Ibasho, which embeds elderly residents in vulnerable areas within larger social networks and encourages them to participate in leadership activities. This project sought to deepen the connections of these elderly residents to society and to build elderly leadership and community capacity for future crises. Methods: We carried out surveys of participants and nonparticipant residents across the city of Ofunato in Tohoku, Japan, 1 year after the intervention began. Our surveys included questions assessing participation levels in …


Review Of Managing Disasters And Disasters And The American State, Daniel P. Aldrich Sep 2015

Review Of Managing Disasters And Disasters And The American State, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

These two new books tackle the topic of disaster management and response from very different angles but share a focus on the role of public- and private-sector institutions in managing crises. Both works suggest that the United States should attempt a more optimal balance among private, public, and local actors than can be found in current disaster management systems.


Elders Leading The Way To Resilience, Emi Kiyota, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Margaret Arnold, Daniel P. Aldrich Dec 2014

Elders Leading The Way To Resilience, Emi Kiyota, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Margaret Arnold, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

The theory of change behind this project draws on multiple constructs, including elder empowerment, ibasho, community bonding, social capital, and community resilience. 1. Empowering elders changes the way they feel about their role in their community 2. Creating the Ibasho Café (both physical and social infrastructures) with elders in a leadership role increases the community bonding among the members of all ages 3. A strong sense of community bonding increases the level of social network and community participation, enhancing the sense of belonging and trust, and developing reciprocity between neighbors 4. An enhanced sense of social capital strengthens the community’s …


Strong Civil Society As A Double-Edged Sword: Siting Trailers In Post-Katrina New Orleans, Daniel P. Aldrich, Kevin Crook Aug 2008

Strong Civil Society As A Double-Edged Sword: Siting Trailers In Post-Katrina New Orleans, Daniel P. Aldrich, Kevin Crook

Daniel P Aldrich

To meet the dire need for housing created by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans and the staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) worked to create lists of potential sites for trailer parks. This procedure took place within an environment of Not In My Back Yard-ism, or NIMBYism, where a number of communities and individuals expressed their opposition to hosting such trailer sites both publicly and privately. We analyze the final list of city-approved sites to track which factors were correlated with larger (or smaller) numbers of trailers and trailer …


Site Fights: Divisive Facilities And Civil Society In Japan And The West, Daniel Aldrich Dec 2007

Site Fights: Divisive Facilities And Civil Society In Japan And The West, Daniel Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

One of the most vexing problems for governments is building controversial facilities that serve the needs of all citizens but have adverse consequences for host communities. Policy makers must decide not only where to locate often unwanted projects, but also what methods to use when interacting with opposition groups. In Site Fights, I gather quantitative evidence from close to 500 municipalities across Japan to show that planners deliberately seek out acquiescent and unorganized communities for such facilities in order to minimize conflict. When protests arise over nuclear power plants, dams, and airports, agencies regularly rely on the coercive powers of …