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Is Federalism the Reason for Policy Failure in Hurricane Katrina?

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  • Thomas Birkland
  • Sarah Waterman

Abstract

Governmental responses to Hurricane Katrina are generally cited as policy failures. Media and popular analyses focus on the federal government's policy failures in hazard preparedness, response, and recovery. Meanwhile, disaster experts realize that disaster response is a shared intergovernmental responsibility. We examine the federal nature of natural disaster policy in the US to consider whether federalism, or other factors, had the greatest influence on the failures in Katrina. We find that some policy failures are related to policy design considerations based in federalism, but that the national focus on "homeland security" and the concomitant reduction in attention to natural hazards and disasters, are equally, if not more complicit, in the erosion of government disaster management capacity that was revealed in Hurricane Katrina. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Birkland & Sarah Waterman, 2008. "Is Federalism the Reason for Policy Failure in Hurricane Katrina?," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 38(4), pages 692-714, Fall.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:38:y:2008:i:4:p:692-714
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/publius/pjn020
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    Cited by:

    1. Priscilla M. Regan & Torin Monahan, 2014. "Fusion Center Accountability and Intergovernmental Information Sharing," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 44(3), pages 475-498.
    2. Baker, C. Richard, 2014. "Breakdowns of accountability in the face of natural disasters: The case of Hurricane Katrina," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 620-632.
    3. Mark Skidmore & Hideki Toya, 2013. "Natural Disaster Impacts and Fiscal Decentralization," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(1), pages 101-117.
    4. Hildebrand Sean, 2015. "Coerced Confusion? Local Emergency Policy Implementation After September 11," Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 273-298, June.
    5. Ann-Margaret Esnard & Alka Sapat & Diana Mitsova, 2011. "An index of relative displacement risk to hurricanes," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 59(2), pages 833-859, November.
    6. Brian R. Johnson & Eric Connolly & Timothy S. Carter, 2011. "Corporate social responsibility: the role of Fortune 100 companies in domestic and international natural disasters," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(6), pages 352-369, November.
    7. Healy, Andrew & Malhotra, Neil, 2009. "Myopic Voters and Natural Disaster Policy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 103(3), pages 387-406, August.
    8. Matthew A. Malone & Sean Hildebrand, 2022. "Is there coercion in local emergency management policy implementation?," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 113(3), pages 1663-1674, September.
    9. Qing Miao & Yu Shi & Meri Davlasheridze, 2021. "Fiscal Decentralization and Natural Disaster Mitigation: Evidence from the United States," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 26-50, March.
    10. Stephanie Zarb & Kristin Taylor, 2023. "Uneven local implementation of federal policy after disaster: Policy conflict and goal ambiguity," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 40(1), pages 63-87, January.

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