John Hannigan 
Disasters Without Borders 
The International Politics of Natural Disasters

Dramatic scenes of devastation and suffering caused by disasters
such as the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, are viewed with
shock and horror by millions of us across the world. What we rarely
see, however, are the international politics of disaster aid,
mitigation and prevention that condition the collective response to
natural catastrophes around the world. In this book, respected
Canadian environmental sociologist John Hannigan argues that the
global community of nations has failed time and again in
establishing an effective and binding multilateral mechanism for
coping with disasters, especially in the more vulnerable countries
of the South.

Written in an accessible and even-handed manner, Disasters without
Borders it is the first comprehensive account of the key
milestones, debates, controversies and research relating to the
international politics of natural disasters. Tracing the historical
evolution of this policy field from its humanitarian origins in WWI
right up to current efforts to cast climate change as the prime
global driver of disaster risk, it highlights the ongoing mismatch
between the way disaster has been conceptualised and the
institutional architecture in place to manage it. The book’s
bold conclusion predicts the confluence of four emerging trends –
politicisation/militarisation, catastrophic scenario building,
privatisation of risk, and quantification, which could create a new
system of disaster management wherein ‘insurance logic’ will
replace humanitarian concern as the guiding principle. style=’font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;’ />

Disasters Without Borders is an ideal introductory text
for students, lecturers and practitioners in the fields of
international development studies, disaster management, politics
and international affairs, and environmental geography/sociology.

Table of Content

Acknowledgments vi

Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms viii

Text Boxes x

Introduction 1

1 The Disaster Politics Nexus 6

2 The Global Policy Field of Natural Disasters 18

3 The Kindness of Strangers 42

4 A Safer World? 59

5 Climate of Concern 78

6 Disaster Politics as Game Playing 97

7 Mass Media and the Politics of Disaster 115

8 Disaster Politics: A Discursive Approach 130

9 Conclusion 146

Notes 159

References 167

Index 188

About the author

John Hannigan is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto.