Chapter 14 Assessing the impact of crises on the performance and governance of Asian countries

Governments and other organizations are confronted with more frequent and devastating crises and disasters as the environment within which they operate becomes more complex and tumultuous ( Hwang & Lichtenthal, 2000 ; Rosenthal & Kouzmin, 1997 ). Recent catastrophic events, such as the tsunami in Southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina in the United States, have heightened interest in efforts to plan for and resolve these crises. However, despite the far-reaching disruptions caused by these crises, the literature on the topic of crisis impacts has hitherto been relatively scant, and most studies are not empirical ( Pelling, Ozerdem, & Barakat, 2002 ).