Disaster and Emergency Policies at the International and Global System Levels

Abstract

The study of international cooperation in response to emergency events encompasses both the immediate relief and the short- and long-term reconstruction aid given by states and international organizations to the population and countries hurt by natural and man-made disasters. This is a new field of study. The state-level programmes and policies of disaster prevention, relief and reconstruction have been rather well studied by social scientists, especially in the Western and advanced countries. Conversely, wide-ranging knowledge about the international and global-level policies of emergency cooperation is rather limited today. Emergency cooperation is the business of different types of actors, institutions and agencies, and consists of different resources, procedures and practices. This multifaceted nature of the actions and policies for organizing international relief and reconstruction in the event of disasters makes the study of this topic an interesting venture and also an important endeavour to grasp the current state of the global system. Broadly speaking, the most advanced countries would have the capabilities for influencing these policies. But, to achieve effective results from the efforts made to provide rescue and reconstruction in disaster areas, the importance of the role of the states is balanced by the need to give to international organizations the fundamental role of coordination, and to also have on board non-state actors, such as groups of experts and humanitarian NGOs for the valuable contribution they make to the rescue and rehabilitation mission of the emergency operations.