Rethinking Disasters: Politics and Policymaking in the COVID-19 Era

Join the Department of Social Sciences for this Great Problems, Great Minds seminar series event featuring guest speaker Tanya Corbin, a disaster policy scholar and chair of the Department of Security and Emergency Services at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide.

Recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the increasing complexity, scope, and scale of disasters, as well as their politicized nature. Disasters, crises, and catastrophes exacerbate preexisting vulnerabilities and are often highly politicized. Because disasters often transcend traditional geopolitical boundaries, they present unique challenges for governmental agencies, policymakers, and the public, requiring coordination and collaboration from the grassroots local community level to global leaders. Corbin will discuss these processes in the context of current and past disasters, the unique challenges that transboundary and compounding disasters pose, the extent to which current frameworks are equipped to address them, and interdisciplinary questions that will be most critical in guiding future research, policy, and practice in this area.