The new form of "humanitarian government" emerging from natural disasters and military occupations that reduces people to mere lives to be rescued. From natural disaster areas to zones of political conflict around the world, a new logic of intervention combines military action and humanitarian aid, conflates moral imperatives and political arguments, and confuses the concepts of legitimacy and legality. The mandate to protect human lives--however and wherever endangered--has given rise to a new form of humanitarian government that moves from one crisis to the next, applying the same battery of technical expertise (from military logistics to epidemiological risk management to the latest social scientific tools for "good governance") and reducing people with particular histories and hopes to mere lives to be rescued. This book explores these contemporary states of emergency. Drawing on the critical insights of anthropologists, legal scholars, political scientists, and practitioners from the field, Contemporary States of Emergency examines historical antecedents as well as the moral, juridical, ideological, and economic conditions that have made military and humanitarian interventions common today. It addresses the practical process of intervention in global situations on five continents, describing both differences and similarities, and examines the moral and political consequences of these generalized states of emergency and the new form of government associated with them.
This dissertation analyzes the current status of emergency management professionalization in the United States and Florida using a qualitative case study. I investigate the efforts of various organizations at the national and state levels in the private and public sectors to organize emergency management as a profession. I conceptualize emergency management professionalization as occurring in two phases: the indirect institutionalization of the occupation of emergency management and the formal advancement toward an emergency management profession. The legislative, organizational, and procedural developments that occurred between approximately 1900 and the late 1970s became the indirect institutionalization of the occupation of emergency management. Over time, as our society developed and became increasingly complex, more disasters affect the security of the population. In order to adapt to increasing risks and vulnerabilities the emergency management system emerged and with it the necessary elements upon which a future profession could be established providing the basis for the formal advancement toward an emergency management profession. The purpose of this research is to provide a frame of reference for whether or not the field of emergency management is a profession. Based on sociology of professions literature, emergency management can be considered to be professionalizing. The current emergency management professionalization efforts may or may not be sufficient to achieve the ultimate goal of becoming a legitimate profession based on legal and public support for the exclusive right to perform emergency management tasks (monopoly) as well as self-regulation of those tasks (autonomy).
In an emergency, statesmen concentrate power and suspend citizens' rights. These emergency powers are ubiquitous in the crisis government of liberal democracies, but their nature and justification is poorly understood. Based on a pluralist conception of political ethics and political power, this book shows how we can avoid the dangers and confusions inherent in the norm/exception approach that dominates both historical and contemporary debate. The book shows how liberal values need never - indeed must never - be suspended, even in times of urgency. Only then can accountability remain a live possibility. But at the same time, emergency powers can sometimes be justified with reference to extra-liberal norms that also operate in times of normalcy. By emphasizing the continuity between times of normalcy and emergency, the book illuminates the norms of crisis government, broadening our understanding of liberal democratic government and of political ethics in the process.
Raises concerns about the degree to which the rule of law and emergency powers have become fundamentally entangled, using Israel as a case study. Contemporary debates on states of emergency have focused on whether law can regulate emergency powers, if at all. These studies base their analyses on the premise that law and emergency are at odds with each other. In Between the Rule of Law and States of Emergency, Yoav Mehozay offers a fundamentally different approach, demonstrating that law and emergency are mutually reinforcing paradigms that compensate for each others shortcomings. Through a careful dissection of Israels emergency apparatus, Mehozay illustrates that the reach of Israels emergency regime goes beyond defending the state and its people against acts of terror. In fact, that apparatus has had a far greater impact on Israels governing system, and society as a whole, than has traditionally been understood. Mehozay pushes us to think about emergency powers beyond the war on terror and consider the role of emergency with regard to realms such as political economy.
Presenting diverse contributors from legal, academic, and practitioner sectors, this book illustrates how the distinctions between international and domestic law are falling away in the context of security, particularly in the responses to terrorism, and explores the implications of these dramatic shifts in the normative order. Fundamental changes in the powers of the state and the rights of populations have accelerated since the globalized response to 9/11, creating effects that spread beyond borders and operate in a new, as yet under-conceptualized space. Although these altered practices were said to be in response to exceptional circumstances — a response to terrorism — they have become increasingly established in an altered baseline norm. This book explores the (inter)national implications of exceptional legal efforts to protect states’ domestic space in the realm of security.
This book provides a number of windows into homeland security and emergency management law - covering both the basic structure of the homeland security and emergency management system and presenting detailed analysis of specific areas (such as applying for federal preparedness funds, negotiating intergovernmental agreements, applying for disaster assistance, and managing the impact of catastrophic events).
The incendiary untold story of Ireland’s response to the most significant public health emergency of the past century, woven from a wealth of original research and dozens of interviews with ministers, politicians, public health experts, essential workers, and ordinary people on whom the crisis exacted a personal toll.
Legal Aspects of Emergency Services introduces members of fire and emergency medical services to the legal system in the United States, showing them how various types of laws affect their work in emergency services. After studying Legal Aspects of Emergency Services, students will be able to identify situations in their work environment—whether at incident scenes or at the station—that reflect federal, state, and local laws, or may require the assistance of an attorney. The knowledge gained through this text can influence emergency responders’ words and actions in legally sensitive situations. Legal Aspects of Emergency Services meets and exceeds the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) Program Legal Aspects of Emergency Services course outcomes. Chapters progress from a general foundation in the U.S. legal system, to general types of laws, and then to the more specific types of laws affecting emergency services, covering the legal aspects of topics such as: Patient privacy Emergency medical care Public information transparency Technology use Civil rights Employment benefits Employee safety Employer-employee relations Community rights Legal Aspects of Emergency Services also includes: Decisions from influential court cases Fictional case studies Clarifications of tricky legal concepts State laws involving emergency services Legal Aspects of Emergency Services is designed to provide responders with some basic legal knowledge so that, when faced with a legal quandary, they may remember the core principles discussed throughout this book and recognize the need to seek qualified legal advice. The law affects everything responders do in their daily activity, especially when functioning as an agent of a fire or EMS department. Fire fighters are calculated risk takers. They risk a lot to save a lot, and conversely risk nothing to save nothing, and they often find themselves operating within the gray area of those two extremes. Having an understanding of the law as it applies in different situations allows the prudent fire fighter, EMT, supervisor, manager or officer to manage legal exposure. There are times when it may be necessary to assume greater legal risk because it is the right thing to do. There are other times when a legal risk is not worth any potential benefit. As a result, it is important for those in fire and EMS disciplines to have a passing knowledge of the law and how it affects them in their profession.
