The Critical Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Disaster and Crisis Response

摘要: Front-line emergency responders occupy a fundamental role in organizations that provide services in response to a disaster or crisis yet are often neglected in scholarly examinations of these events. Research examining responses to these critical incidents has addressed intergovernmental relations during the four phases of disasters (i.e., mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery) (Comfort 1985, 2007; Waugh 1994), leadership and management capabilities necessary for successfully handling these incidents (Boin and ’t Hart 2003; Farazmand 2007; Kapucu and Van Wart 2008; Waugh and Streib 2006), detailed studies of the often complex network of organizations that respond to large incidents (Comfort et al. 2001; Farazmand 2007), and communication and coordination during responses (Comfort and Haase 2006; Kapucu 2006). As expected, many of these studies are presented as case studies …