Public Policy and Local Crises
Lessons from Poland and Central Europe
Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Introduction: Public Policy and Local Crises (Robert Geisler, Tomasz Pawłuszko)
- Risk analysis
- VUCA
- Flood
- Public policies
- Communication
- References
- Civil Protection in Central Europe after the Escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian War (Tomasz Pawłuszko)
- Introduction: What is civil protection?
- The origins of civil protection institutions
- Problems of civil protection in Central Europe
- The Czech Republic
- Poland
- Hungary
- The war in Ukraine and the problems of civil protection systems in Central Europe
- Summary and recommendations
- References
- Ukrainian Refugees and Migrants in the German Labour Market. Preliminary Research Results (Robert Geisler)
- Introduction
- State-of-the art
- The German entrepreneurial perspective qualitative research results
- The level of human capital of refugees and migrants
- Conclusions
- References
- Cooperation of Emergency Services in the Face of Flood Threats: The Case of the Opolskie Province (Bartosz Maziarz)
- Introduction
- Geographical and hydrological context
- Crisis situation planning and preparation process
- The role of technology in threat monitoring
- Coordination of activities in crisis situations
- Cooperation among the police, the State Fire Service, and the Opole Emergency Medical Centre during the flood relief operation in September 2024
- Police operations
- Final conclusions
- National Fire Service operations
- Division of roles and involvement of individual units
- Activities of the Opole Emergency Medical Centre
- Cooperation is key to successful rescue operations in the Opolskie Province
- References
- The Role of the Polish Police in Mitigating the Effects of Floods: The Case of the Opolskie and Dolnośląskie Provinces (Rafał Kochańczyk)
- Introduction
- Flood as a natural phenomenon
- Police in the crisis management system
- Case study
- Chronology of activities
- Activities of the air operations coordination centre
- Persons evacuated by aircraft
- Number of deaths
- Forces and resources deployed
- Ensuring communication systems in flood-affected areas
- Selected actions in Opole Voivodeship
- Other efforts during flood response operations
- SWOT analysis of police operations during the September 2024 flood
- Conclusions
- References
- The case of the contamination of the Odra River. What went wrong? (Anita Dmitruczuk)
- Introduction. The environmental crisis on the Odra River
- River contamination of unclear origin
- Late response, diffused responsibility
- Circulation and availability of information
- Conclusions. Why has the state failed to manage the crisis?
- References
- Data Management in Local Government Units in Poland: Challenges and Issues in the 21st Century (Grzegorz Haber)
- Introduction
- A theoretical approach to data management
- Results of the quantitative research
- Case study: preparation of strategic development documents for the city of Opole on the basis of available data
- Conclusions
- References
- The use of social media by local authorities in crisis situations: evidence from the 2024 flood in Nysa (Sabina Baraniewicz-Kotasińska)
- Introduction
- Crisis Communication with the use of social media – theoretical background
- Case study
- Methodology
- About the Nysa Municipality
- Analysis of crisis communication
- Situational context
- September 12, Thursday
- September 13, Friday
- September 14, Saturday
- September 15, Sunday
- September 16, Monday
- September 17, Tuesday
- Analysis of communication – advantages and disadvantages of using social media for crisis communication
- Weaknesses in communication
- Conclusions
- References
Introduction: Public Policy and Local Crises
One of the first tasks of public policies was to counteract threats to the government. The first ministries established concerned the state treasury, war, diplomacy and internal security. In the nineteenth century, two parallel processes occurred that increased the role of the modern state. The first process was economic in nature. Industrialization led to the migration of people to cities and rapid economic development. Many areas of the economy emerged that had to be taxed and regulated. Secondly, the development of constitutionalism and the democratization of the political systems of European states led to the expansion of the modern legal infrastructure. The effect of these processes was the expansion of regulations in every area of social life.
For most of the twentieth century, the population of Europe lived in the shadow of two world wars and the Cold War. Fears of another world war led to the establishment of numerous systems of civil protection. Despite the risks associated with the potential escalation of the conflict between the USA and the USSR, long-term economic development and technological progress allowed for the growth of the importance of science, engineering and new technologies. These processes were followed by the social sciences, which tried to understand the modern human condition.
During the Cold War, many intellectual trends influenced the way social threats were constructed. These included, among others, the systemic school and new institutionalism, which emphasized the key role of the context of social actions2. Regulations of the public sphere began to concern the quality of life of the population. The importance of economic and educational policies increased. Numerous new security services and systems were created3.
At the end of the twentieth century, concepts such as VUCA, risk and globalization appeared, which are still explored today. Security sciences were also created, which deal with the study of threats and methods of counteracting them. The issue of non-military security gained enormous importance. Barry Buzan pointed out that, in addition to the problem of survival, values such as sovereignty, prosperity, justice, identity, and sustainable development are important for public security4. The dynamic development of the media has also shown us the growing role of communication.
The first decades of the 21st century made political elites aware of the scale of threats such as terrorism, internationalized civil wars, migration, pandemics, and piracy. Climate change, in turn, led to an increased demand for understanding natural disasters and catastrophes. The universality of perceived threats and the rapid ability to communicate have increased the pressure for more effective political actions. Public policies are today an important tool for ensuring security and preventing crises.
This book is devoted to the various responses of state structures to non-military threats. The book consists of several case studies, the development of which has theoretical, educational, and practical value for the international reader. The publication is part of the current trend of contemporary public policy research, with particular emphasis on the issue of crisis management. In the following summary, we present the key concepts that influenced the authors of the individual chapters.
Risk analysis
The scientific study of threats led to the development of security sciences5. The possibilities of determining future threats are called risk. Therefore, one of the key research areas of these sciences is risk analysis. The concept of risk has a long history and is associated with the process of assessing threats6. This issue is crucial for managing the security of both the public and private spheres.
The first comprehensive risk analyses in the assessment of public policies were conducted in the 1970s. Private companies tried to understand political behaviors that affect the allocation of money in the economy and thus tried to assess long-term conditions for conducting business7. Understanding the logic of decision-makers’ functioning was of key importance. Risk analysis was associated with comparative research, behavioral analysis and research on information. In their cross-sectional work, V. Covello, J. Menkes and J. Nehnevajsa outlined several prospective areas of risk management research8. The issue that raised the greatest doubt was the problem of uncertainty. In the late 1990s, Sheila Jasanoff defined several risk models in the perception of public policies9.
| Model | Epistemology | Location of authority | Political prescriptions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Style | Mechanism | |||
| Realist | Realist | Expert communities | Managerial | Expert advice |
| Constructivist | Constructivist | Interest groups | Pluralist | Public participation |
| Discursive | Constructivist | Professional discourses | Critical | Social movement |
S. Jasanoff, The political science of risk perception, Reliability Engineering and System Safety, vol. 59, 1998, p. 94.
The above list indicates the significant role of elites in the process of risk recognition. These findings are consistent with contemporary political science theory, which points to three main dimensions of governance: decision-making, agenda-setting and preference-shaping. Contemporary explanations of public policies include such objects as decision-makers, their agenda and relations with the political environment10. Risk analysis has become important for optimistic liberal societies, which strive to secure success through political programming.
In subsequent years, the concept of “risk society” presented by the German sociologist Ulrich Beck had a major influence on social sciences11. Further studies have shown the diversity of sources of risk resulting from threats. Modern researchers divide threats into natural (geological, climatic, environmental), technical (failures, catastrophes, fires) and anthropogenic (military threats, terrorism, epidemics, social issues, etc.)12.
To summarize this argument, risk management has become a complex interdisciplinary scientific process, in which experts from various fields try to predict risks and prevent crises13. This process has become particularly important in a situation of growing non-military threats. Contemporary research is also related to concepts such as resilience, uncertainty, complexity, and quality of governance. All these issues are connected by the ever-important problem of the effectiveness of anti-crisis institutions.
VUCA
The VUCA world emerged in the literature of management studies at the end of 20th century. Dominated by the notions such as variability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, it presents mostly the reality of economy as constantly changing, unpredictable and deprived of full market information where managers, entrepreneurs and employees function by performing their daily activities. Additionally, not only business and economy were involved in this model. It extended into all areas of life as political, cultural and social14. All provided processes point to a new context of governance, organizations, entrepreneurship, as well as every-day living. The new type of features started to be emphasised in the new model, including flexibility, the search for new products and services, the creation of innovative products, the implementation of these innovative solutions for individual customers (customisation), the use of knowledge and information to implement business ventures, the use of social networks to implement business projects, and the use of Internet technology to pursue business15.
Details
- Pages
- 172
- Publication Year
- 2025
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783631937457
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783631941331
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9783631937440
- DOI
- 10.3726/b23090
- Open Access
- CC-BY-NC-ND
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2025 (December)
- Keywords
- Crisis management Civil protection Flood Public policy Civil defence Resilience Institutional adaptation
- Published
- Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford, 2025. 172 pp., 7 Ill. b/w, 16 Tab. b/w
- Product Safety
- Peter Lang Group AG
