Learning from crisis: The role of enquiry commissions
Helge Renå,Johan Christensen +1 more
TLDR
The work of enquiry commissions exhibits tensions that condition the subsequent opportunities of government to learn from crisis events as mentioned in this paper, and the lessons drawn by the enquiry commission investigating the attacks were shaped by the commission's dual function, by the dominant professional perspectives within the group, and by the specific models of decision-making and assessment standards that the commission adopted.Abstract:
The literature on crisis learning has thus far paid little attention to the institutional channels through which governments draw lessons from crisis events. This paper examines theoretically and empirically a key institutional site for crisis learning: enquiry commissions. The theoretical argument is illustrated by analysing the enquiry commission that examined the 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway. The paper argues that the work of enquiry commissions exhibits tensions that condition the subsequent opportunities of government to learn from crisis. The paper shows how the lessons drawn by the commission investigating the attacks were shaped by the commission's dual function, by the dominant professional perspectives within the group, and by the specific models of decision‐making and assessment standards that the commission adopted.read more
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After a terrorist attack: Challenges for political and administrative leadership in norway
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative content analysis of central policy documents, parliamentary debates and documents, speeches made by central actors and mass media coverage in the year following the 2011 terrorist attacks is presented.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony
John W. Meyer,Brian Rowan +1 more
TL;DR: Many formal organizational structures arise as reflections of rationalized institutional rules as discussed by the authors, and the elaboration of such rules in modern states and societies accounts in part for the expansion and i...
Journal ArticleDOI
Introduction: epistemic communities and international policy coordination
TL;DR: In this article, a variety of analytic approaches have been used to address the problems of international cooperation, but the approaches have yielded only fragmentary insights, focusing on the technical aspects of a specific problem, how do they define state interests and develop viable solutions? What factors shape their behavior? Under conditions of uncertainty, what are the origins of international institutions? And how can we best study the processes through which international policy coordination and order emerge?
Journal ArticleDOI
Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms
TL;DR: The term "New Institutionalism" is a term that now appears with growing frequency in political science as mentioned in this paper, and there is considerable confusion about just what the new institutionalism is, how it differs from other approaches, and what sort of promise or problems it displays.
Book
Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics
James G. March,Johan P. Olsen +1 more
TL;DR: The state has lost its position of centrality in contemporary political theory and an emphasis on bargaining among conflicting interest have usurped ideas that embedded morality in institutions, such as the legal system and the corporation, as foundations for political identity as discussed by the authors.