SlowDisasters | Political Dynamics of Slow-Onset Disasters: Contrasting Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Ebola Responses

Summary
Disasters differ markedly in their speed and pattern of manifestation, which in turn greatly affects how researchers as well as
authorities interpret and respond to them. While theoretical innovations made by disaster researchers over the last century
have almost exclusively been developed for the study of large rapid-onset disasters, disaster assessments reveal that
elusive and slow-onset disasters affect more people on aggregate. I recently carried out a preliminary study suggesting that
slow-onset disasters have primarily been addressed as something ‘other’ than conventional disasters, and have fallen
outside of the scope of most disaster studies. We therefore lack theoretical frameworks capable of describing the policy
dynamics of slow-onset disasters, largely because existing studies focus on individual slow-onset hazards (e.g. climate
change, pandemics or droughts).

In this project, I will address this gap by studying the ways in which two types of slow-onset disasters vary through a political
response and health policy lens. By contrasting the political response trajectories of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and
Ebola I will investigate how incremental slow-onset disasters (such as AMR) differ from cyclical ones (such as Ebola) with
implications for policy response. The project will be hosted at Roskilde University (RUC), Denmark.

Empirically, the project employs a health sector focus where the global- and EU-level political response to AMR is
juxtaposed with the Ebola response using process tracing analysis. This provides both novel insight on how an incremental
slow-onset disaster (AMR) differs from a cyclical one (Ebola), as well as new knowledge on the dynamics of AMR and
pandemic policymaking. The overarching puzzle and ambition of the action is therefore to understand how different slowonset
disasters vary and which implications this variation has for precautionary planning and policy.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/897656
Start date: 01-01-2021
End date: 31-12-2022
Total budget - Public funding: 219 312,00 Euro - 219 312,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

Disasters differ markedly in their speed and pattern of manifestation, which in turn greatly affects how researchers as well as
authorities interpret and respond to them. While theoretical innovations made by disaster researchers over the last century
have almost exclusively been developed for the study of large rapid-onset disasters, disaster assessments reveal that
elusive and slow-onset disasters affect more people on aggregate. I recently carried out a preliminary study suggesting that
slow-onset disasters have primarily been addressed as something ‘other’ than conventional disasters, and have fallen
outside of the scope of most disaster studies. We therefore lack theoretical frameworks capable of describing the policy
dynamics of slow-onset disasters, largely because existing studies focus on individual slow-onset hazards (e.g. climate
change, pandemics or droughts).

In this project, I will address this gap by studying the ways in which two types of slow-onset disasters vary through a political
response and health policy lens. By contrasting the political response trajectories of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and
Ebola I will investigate how incremental slow-onset disasters (such as AMR) differ from cyclical ones (such as Ebola) with
implications for policy response. The project will be hosted at Roskilde University (RUC), Denmark.

Empirically, the project employs a health sector focus where the global- and EU-level political response to AMR is
juxtaposed with the Ebola response using process tracing analysis. This provides both novel insight on how an incremental
slow-onset disaster (AMR) differs from a cyclical one (Ebola), as well as new knowledge on the dynamics of AMR and
pandemic policymaking. The overarching puzzle and ambition of the action is therefore to understand how different slowonset
disasters vary and which implications this variation has for precautionary planning and policy.

Status

CLOSED

Call topic

MSCA-IF-2019

Update Date

28-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.3. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
H2020-EU.1.3.2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
MSCA-IF-2019