Innovative Thinking in Risk, Crisis, and Disaster Management

Innovative Thinking in Risk, Crisis, and Disaster Management
Author: Simon Bennett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2016-05-23
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1317116291

Risk is an enduring theme of modern life. It permeates political, economic and environmental domains. Some risks are unavoidable. Others are not. Innovative Thinking in Risk, Crisis, and Disaster Management provides ideas and action plans for in a risk society. Dealing with issues of civil safety and security, the book addresses the management of socio-technical risks and hazards, environmental risk, and risk perception. Focusing on risk reduction, chapters cover key themes such as terrorism, public order, emergency responding, energy supply, climate change, and natural disasters. Featuring contributions from expert scholars, the book is both accessible and original. Practitioners in the emergency services, industry and commerce will find the book to be valuable reading, whilst for policy makers, students and academics with a focus on risk and crisis management, this is an essential reference.

Disaster Management: Enabling Resilience

Disaster Management: Enabling Resilience
Author: Anthony Masys
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2014-11-03
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 331908819X

The present work will discuss relevant theoretical frameworks and applications pertaining to enabling resilience within the risk, crisis and disaster management domain. The contributions to this book focus on resilience thinking along 4 broad themes: Urban Domain; Cyber Domain; Organizational/Social domain; and Socio-ecological domain. This book would serve as a valuable reference for courses on risk, crisis and disaster management, international development, social innovation and resilience. This will be of particular interest to those working in the risk, crisis and disaster management domain as it will provide valuable insights into enabling resilience. This book will be well positioned to inform disaster management professionals, policy makers and academics on strategies and perspectives regarding disaster resilience.

Unsafety

Unsafety
Author: Shigeo Atsuji
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2016-11-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 4431559248

This is the first book to examine the linkages among natural and organizational accidents and disasters in the modern era and clarifies the mechanisms involved and the significance of emerging problems, from the aging of vital infrastructure for the supply of water, gas, oil, and electricity to the breakdown of pensions, healthcare, and other social systems. The book demonstrates how we might check the underlying civilizational collapse and then explore translational systems approaches toward resilient management and policy for sustainability. In Unsafety, the author focuses on the kinds of unnatural disasters and organizational accidents that arise as repercussions of natural hazards. Japan serves as an example, where earthquakes, tsunamis, and typhoons are common, with the Fukushima nuclear disaster as an outstanding case of this link between natural disasters and organizational accidents. Natural and human-made disasters happen worldwide and cause misery through loss of life; destruction of livelihoods as in agriculture, fisheries, and the manufacturing industry; and interruption of urban life. Unsafety from a disaster in one place increases uncertainty elsewhere, presenting urgent issues in all nations for individuals, organizations, regions, and the state. The author explains that one factor in the Fukushima catastrophe, which followed in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, was the latent deterioration and aging of systems at all levels from the physical to the social, leading through a chain reaction to unsought and unforeseen consequences. Here, the aging of the nuclear reactor system, the breakdown of safety management, and inappropriate instructions from the regulatory authorities combined to create the three-fold disaster, in which technological, organizational, and governmental dysfunction have been diagnosed as reflecting a “systems pathology” infecting all levels.

Handbook of Security Science

Handbook of Security Science
Author: Anthony J. Masys
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 1192
Release: 2022-09-27
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319918753

This handbook offers insights into how science (physical, natural and social) and technology can support new developments to manage the complexity resident within the threat and risk landscape. The security landscape can be described as dynamic and complex stemming from the emerging threats and risks that are both persistent and transborder. Globalization, climate change, terrorism, transnational crime can have significant societal impact and forces one to re-evaluate what ‘national security’ means. Recent global events such as mass migration, terrorist acts, pandemics and cyber threats highlight the inherent vulnerabilities in our current security posture. As an interdisciplinary body of work, the Handbook of Security Science captures concepts, theories and security science applications, thereby providing a survey of current and emerging trends in security. Through an evidence-based approach, the collection of chapters in the book delivers insightful and comprehensive articulation of the problem and solution space associated with the complex security landscape. In so doing the Handbook of Security Science introduces scientific tools and methodologies to inform security management, risk and resilience decision support systems; insights supporting design of security solutions; approaches to threat, risk and vulnerability analysis; articulation of advanced cyber security solutions; and current developments with respect to integrated computational and analytical solutions that increase our understanding of security physical, social, economic, and technological interrelationships and problem space.

The Great Power Competition Volume 3

The Great Power Competition Volume 3
Author: Adib Farhadi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2022-09-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3031045866

For millennia, humans waged war on land and sea. The 20th century opened the skies and the stars, introducing air and space as warfare domains. Now, the 21st century has revealed perhaps the most insidious domain of all: cyberspace, the fifth domain. A realm free of physical boundaries, cyberspace lies at the intersection of technology and psychology, where one cannot see one’s enemy, and the most potent weapon is information. The third book in the Great Power Competition series, Cyberspace: The Fifth Domain, explores the emergence of cyberspace as a vector for espionage, sabotage, crime, and war. It examines how cyberspace rapidly evolved from a novelty to a weapon capable of influencing global economics and overthrowing regimes, wielded by nation-states and religious ideologies to stunning effect. Cyberspace: The Fifth Domain offers a candid look at the United States’ role in cyberspace, offering realistic prescriptions for responding to international cyber threats on the tactical, strategic, and doctrinal levels, answering the questions of how can we respond to these threats versus how should we respond? What are the obstacles to and consequences of strategic and tactical response options? What technological solutions are on the horizon? Should the U.S. adopt a more multi-domain offensive posture that eschews the dominant “cyber vs. cyber” paradigm? To answer these questions, experts examine the technological threats to critical infrastructure; cyber operations strategy, tactics, and doctrine; information influence operations; the weaponization of social media; and much more.

Avoidable Deaths

Avoidable Deaths
Author: Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2017-09-04
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 3319669516

This book addresses one of the most fundamental questions of the 21st century: why deaths continue to occur in natural disasters despite the tremendous advancements in disaster management science and weather forecasting systems, increased sophistication of human-built environments and ongoing economic and policy development worldwide. By presenting an interdisciplinary tool for analysing ‘systems failure’, the book provides concrete suggestions on how deaths may be reduced in resource-poor contexts. It goes beyond traditional risk and vulnerability perspectives and demonstrates that deaths in disasters are complex problems that can be solved by adopting a socio-technical perspective to improve current disaster management systems in the developing world. The book is a timely contribution, as it directly addresses Global Target One of the UN’s ‘Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction’, which has urged 185 UN Member States to reduce disaster mortality by 2030. Further, it offers a valuable resource for students, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners interested in disaster risk reduction, human rights, gender, sociology of risk, crisis and disasters, environmental science, organisation and management studies.

The Great Power Competition Volume 1

The Great Power Competition Volume 1
Author: Adib Farhadi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2021-06-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030644731

Over the past decade, the international political system has come to be characterized as a Great Power Competition in which multiple would-be hegemons compete for power and influence. Instead of a global climate of unchallenged United States dominance, revisionist powers, notably China and Russia alongside other regional powers, are vying for dominance through political, military, and economic means. A critical battleground in the Great Power Competition is the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and the Central Asia South Asia (CASA), also known as the Central Region. With the planned withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan, the U.S. has stated its intention of shifting attention away from the CASA Region in favor of a more isolationist foreign policy approach. This book provides an in-depth understanding of the implications for this shift related to regional diplomacy & politics, economic opportunities & rivalries, security considerations & interests, and the information environment. Amplifying the vital importance of success in the Central Region to U.S. prosperity and security, this volume advances dialogue in identifying key issues for stakeholders within and beyond the Central Region to gain a holistic perspective that better informs decision-making at various levels. This collection of work comes from scholars, strategic thinkers, and subject matter experts who participated in the Great Power Competition Conference hosted by the University of South Florida, in partnership with the National Defense University Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Strategies in January 2020.

Disaster Forensics

Disaster Forensics
Author: Anthony J. Masys
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2016-09-03
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319418491

This book aims to uncover the root causes of natural and man-made disasters by going beyond the typical reports and case studies conducted post-disaster. It opens the black box of disasters by presenting ‘forensic analysis approaches’ to disasters, thereby revealing the complex causality that characterizes them and explaining how and why hazards do, or do not, become disasters. This yields ‘systemic’ strategies for managing disasters. Recently the global threat landscape has seen the emergence of high impact, low probability events. Events like Hurricane Katrina, the Great Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Hurricane Sandy, Super Typhoon Haiyan, global terrorist activities have become the new norm. Extreme events challenge our understanding regarding the interdependencies and complexity of the disaster aetiology and are often referred to as Black Swans. Between 2002 and 2011, there were 4130 disasters recorded that resulted from natural hazards around the world. In these, 1,117,527 people perished and a minimum of US$1,195 billion in losses were reported. In the year 2011 alone, 302 disasters claimed 29,782 lives; affected 206 million people and inflicted damages worth a minimum of estimated US$366 billion.

Exploring the Security Landscape: Non-Traditional Security Challenges

Exploring the Security Landscape: Non-Traditional Security Challenges
Author: Anthony J. Masys
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2016-02-11
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319279149

This book provides international perspective for those studying or working in the security domain, from enforcement to policy. It focuses on non-traditional threats in a landscape that has been described as transnational in nature and incorporates natural disasters, gang violence, extremism and terrorism, amongst other issues. Chapters provide innovative thinking on themes including cyber security, maritime security, transnational crime, human security, globalization and economic security. Relevant theoretical frameworks are presented and readers are expertly guided through complex threats, from matters pertaining to health security which pose threats not only to humans but also have significant national security implications, to issues regarding critical infrastructure vulnerability and the complexity of understanding terrorist operations. Authors reveal how emerging uncertainties regarding global critical infrastructure and supply chain security, food security, and health security are linked to the notion of human security. Security professionals, policy makers and academics will all gain from the insights, strategies and perspectives in this book. It builds understanding of the deepening and broadening domain of security studies and provides a valuable reference text for courses on security studies and international relations.

The Great Power Competition Volume 5

The Great Power Competition Volume 5
Author: Adib Farhadi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2023-10-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3031404513

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and Implications for the Central Region addresses national security threats and strategic opportunities for the United States and its allies in the Middle East and Central Asia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Recognizing that integrated deterrence is not constrained by geography or domain, this book focuses on the complex threats and challenges confronting U.S. national security and foreign policy in a post-Ukraine invasion environment. That is to say, what happens in Ukraine does not stay in Ukraine. It affects everyone from the region to the cyberspace domain to people on the other side of the world, due to changes in commodity prices. Specifically, this volume explores how revised analyses of Russia may alter U.S. and allied strategies in a shifting international system and within the framing of strategic competition. Experts in this volume examine how the war in Ukraine will influence Russian strategy and foreign policy in the Middle East, Central Asia, and globally; what effect the Ukraine invasion could have on global and regional geopolitics and geoeconomics; and the United States’ ability to protect national interests in the Central Region. The reasons for this are multiple and complex. In this volume, we explore many issues that have confounded security experts by asking questions such as: What happens after the Russian invasion? What lessons did the U.S., Ukraine, NATO, and the European Union learn about Russia? What lessons did Russia learn about itself and its military after the Ukraine invasion? What lessons did the U.S. learn in Afghanistan that apply to Ukraine? Why was the initial analysis of the Russian invasion so wrong? How has power shifted in the international system since the Ukraine invasion? How has the security environment shifted since the Ukraine invasion? For the U.S. to continue supporting its partners in the Middle East and Central Asia, it must anticipate what new opportunities will arise from Russia’s missteps in Ukraine. The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and Implications for the Central Region addresses these challenges and opportunities and informs policymakers on the changing contours of the Great Power Competition.