The Agenda of Disaster Relief Policy in the Post-War Period

Like other studies of agenda setting, this book builds on the work of Baumgartner and Jones (1993), King (1997), Worsham (1997) and Tzoumis (2001), and most recently, Wilkerson, Feeley, Schiereck, and Sue (1999). Specifically, the focus of this book is on disaster relief policy. Two basic objectives guide the study. The first is to examine the origins and evolution of disaster relief policy in order to understand its shifting image. The second is to understand how Congress governs the agenda of disaster relief policy in the post war period. The analysis in this book is derived from data collected on disaster relief-related bills and hearings in the United States Congress from 1947-2005. Overall the study demonstrates that although congressional committees often serve as the institutional anchor for subsystem arrangement and a policy monopoly, punctuating events can alter the policy equilibrium maintained by such an arrangement. This is a must book for courses in public policy, Congress, emergency management and disaster relief. It would also be useful for NGOs and researchers engage in disaster relief policy.... Mehr