Publius: The Journal of Federalism Advance Access originally published online on July 22, 2008
Publius: The Journal of Federalism 2008 38(4):715-738; doi:10.1093/publius/pjn019
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This article appears in the following Publius: The Journal of Federalism issue: Attribution of Governmental Blame in Times of Disaster [View the issue table of contents]
Who's to Blame? (Mis) perceptions of the Intergovernmental Response to Disasters
*Michigan State University, sks{at}msu.edu
This analysis shows that the intergovernmental response to Hurricane Katrina collapsed because those involved in the process did not have a clear understanding of their own roles and responsibilities or how the entire governmental response system should operate. New data are presented which demonstrate that citizens’ attitudes about intergovernmental responsibilities coincide quite closely with how the disaster response system is designed to function, but they differ from the way public officials involved in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts thought the process should work. This mismatch between what various levels of government are expected to do and what activities they actually perform in emergency situations has contributed to extremely negative impressions within the American public about governmental performance during natural disasters.