When Disasters Come Home

Making and Manipulating Emergencies In The West

David Keen

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English

Polity Press
02 August 2023

Politics & government; Political science & theory

In the late twentieth century, disasters seemed like distant happenings in countries far away from the prosperous West. But today they are ‘coming home’ with a vengeance. From global warming to migration crises, from assaults on democracy to Covid-19 and the fall-out of war in Ukraine – the West is in the grip of multiple, overlapping crises that keep its populations in a state of perpetual fear and distraction.

Disasters should be awakening us to the need to reform our disaster-producing system. Yet instead, as David Keen shows in this disturbing and original book, they are routinely being exploited for political as well as economic gain. A number of crises, whether slow-burning or sudden, are not only reinforcing each other but also bolstering the toxic politics that helped to generate them. One key problem here is the use of emergencies to vilify those who are trying to relieve them or to highlight their root causes. Unless these voices and alternative perspectives find a way to break through, we risk being locked into a system of emergency politics that is self-reinforcing rather than self-correcting – and that routinely manufactures its own legitimacy.

By: David Keen
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781509550630
ISBN 10: 1509550631
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 02 August 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Disasters Coming Home Chapter 2: Lessons from the ‘Far Away’ Chapter 3: A Self-reinforcing System? Chapter 4: Emergency Politics Chapter 5: Hostile Environments Chapter 6: Welcoming Infection Chapter 7: Magical Thinking Chapter 8: Policing Delusions Chapter 9: Action as Propaganda Chapter 10: Choosing Disaster Chapter 11: Home to Roost Bibliography Notes

David Keen is Professor of Conflict Studies at the London School of Economics (LSE). A former researcher, consultant and journalist, he is a leading authority on the politics of contemporary conflict and humanitarian disasters. He is the author of numerous books on conflict, including The Benefits of Famine (1994), Useful Enemies (2012) and the ground-breaking text Complex Emergencies (2007) which explored the multifaceted interaction between conflict and its benefactors.