Crises as Public Problems

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics

Abstract

Abstract Crises are ubiquitous. The term is widely used to describe a vast array of conditions or events, ranging from climate change and pandemics to housing shortages, migration, and financial turmoil, which appear fundamentally different. But why, and how, do certain conditions and events come to be recognized as crises? And how does such framing affect how they are addressed? Despite a proliferating scholarship on crises in public policy and related fields, how certain issues come to be defined as crises, when they are set on the agenda of decision makers and how such framing accordingly shapes policy responses is still not well understood. Much of the existing research in public policy continues to treat crises as exogenous, external, and independent events that disrupt the policy process. While it has often been highlighted that crises are framed and socially constructed, the mechanisms through which this framing occurs and its implications for policymaking remain underexplored. This contribution examines how crises emerge through framing processes, how they come to be recognized as requiring a specific type of “crisis” intervention, how they are placed on the political agenda, and how this process affects the design of policies that seek to tackle them. It builds upon the literature on public problems that offers well-developed explanations for how certain conditions and events are transformed into problems warranting policy attention. The first part explores how crisis frames emerge, highlighting the conditions under which such frames are successful, with an emphasis on the role of institutions, discourses, and actors in establishing a dominant crisis narrative. The second part analyses how these frames shape the way policymakers address crises—that is, how they are set on the agenda and how decision makers act upon them. This part focuses on the effect of socially defined characteristics of crises on the policy process. Overall, the article provides a conceptual foundation for analyzing the emergence and governing of crises using a public problem approach.

Authors 4

1. Lydie Cabane Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University

2. Thijs van Dooremalen Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University

3. Thijs de Boer Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University

4. Wout Broekema Aachen Leiden Unviersity

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden Unviersity