Overview: Crisis Management, Influences, Responses and Evaluation

Author: McConnell, Allan

Source: Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 56, Number 3, 1 July 2003 , pp. 363-409(47)

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Abstract:

Crisis management is an increasingly important activity of British government. Recent years have seen crises associated with foot-and-mouth disease, fuel protests, Millennium Dome, rail safety, school examinations, September 11, food safety, firefighters dispute, countryside issues and asylum seekers. Earlier experiences include the poll tax, BSE and HIV/AIDS. This article provides an overview of crisis management in British government. It focuses particularly on (1) outlining the main variables shaping response patterns, (2) examining the main response patterns such as agenda management, centralisation, decentralisation, bureaucratic politics and strategic evasion, and (3) exploring the difficulties in judging the `success' or `failure' of crisis management activities. It concludes by suggesting that crisis management in British government is at heart a political activity.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/parlij/gsg096

Publication date: 2003-07-01

More about this publication?

Parliamentary Affairs is an established, peer-reviewed academic quarterly covering all the aspects of government and politics directly or indirectly connected with Parliament and parliamentary systems in Britain and throughout the world. The journal is published in partnership with the Hansard Society. The Society was created to promote parliamentary democracy throughout the world, a theme which is reflected in the pages of Parliamentary Affairs.