Civilsamhällets respons på olyckor och kriser : bistånd eller motstånd?

Projektet undersöker vilka trender och drivkrafter som finns bakom civilsamhällets respons på olyckor och kriser. Forskningen analyserar olika former av frivilligt engagemang både ur ett internationellt och ett svenskt perspektiv

Responding to Terrorist Attacks on Rail Bound Traffic : Challenges for Inter-organizational Collaboration

Contemporary terrorism is becoming increasingly indiscriminate, and rail bound traffic appears to be vulnerable and at high risk for terrorist attacks. An attack targeting a train or subway system can have enormous implications, both in terms of human suffering and long-term societal consequences. This dissertation aims to analyze how public and private organizations prepare for and respond to crises emanating from terrorism targeting rail bound traffic. It also examines different practices, networks and ideas related to interorganizational collaboration. Contemporary research emphasizes the importance and advantages of collaborative action in crisis management, and the idea of inter-organizational collaboration is also embedded in policy documents and has support among practitioners. Despite this, interorganizational collaboration often turns out to be difficult in practice, and it stands out as a critical factor in many crisis situations. Hence, it is crucial to identify and better understand the challenges associated with interorganizational collaboration in the context of terrorist-induced crises. This dissertation is a contribution to this endeavor. In order to capture the inherent complexity of the topic this dissertation combines and merges literature from three research fields: crisis management research, disaster medicine research and terrorism studies. The dissertation examines international experiences of terrorist attacks directed against rail bound traffic. It identifies the way in which attacks have changed over time and analyzes the main challenges of providing pre-hospital care following a mass-casualty attack. In addition, Sweden is used to provide empirical focus in an analysis of preparedness. Relying on scenario-based interviews with central crisis management actors and actors from rail bound traffic, current preparedness practices for responding to a multi-site terrorist attack on rail bound traffic in Sweden is analyzed. The research shows that both public and private organizations have developed risk awareness about terrorist-induced crises. However, their preparedness practices are characterized by significant variations and substantial uncertainty. Scare resources are a critical factor, and actors find it difficult to invest in preparedness for seldom-occurring crises. This difficulty is accentuated by the fact that no major mass-casualty attack has taken place in Sweden. A terrorist attack differs from a routine event and poses new and different challenges for inter-organizational collaboration. A large number of organizations are supposed to work together under severe time constraints, and their work can be delayed by particular security concerns. It is assumed that rail bound traffic actors engage in collaborative crisis management; however, there appear to be few mechanisms to prepare them, in a systematic way, for managing this particular type of crisis. Among actors, inter-organizational collaboration is understood primarily from a normative view rather than from the point of view of its practical meaning. As a consequence, it is difficult to turn risk awareness and a commitment to working together into actual practical action. In addition, collaboration between different levels in the crisis management system is particularly challenging. This dissertation also identifies a tension between viewing crisis management as an example of policy-as-usual or from a crises-as-exceptions perspective

Civilsamhällets respons på olyckor och kriser : bistånd eller motstånd?

Projektet undersöker vilka trender och drivkrafter som finns bakom civilsamhällets respons på olyckor och kriser. Forskningen analyserar olika former av frivilligt engagemang både ur ett internationellt och ett svenskt perspektiv

Exploring vulnerabilities in preparedness : rail bound traffic and terrorist attacks

Railway and subway systems are regarded as being vulnerable to terrorism. This article examines different kinds of vulnerabilities in preparedness for terrorist-induced crises targeting rail bound traffic. Many discussions about critical infrastructures and their vulnerability to breakdowns and certain hazards are often discussed from the perspective of technical control systems or advanced mitigation efforts. This article contributes with another perspective. It is suggested that a wider perspective on what constitutes vulnerability is needed and the literature on disasters and crises is therefore informative. Relying on 20 interviews with actors from rail bound traffic and Sweden’s crisis management system, the article focuses on different actors’ own perceptions of their preparedness. The results show that the involved actors not only understand vulnerabilities in preparedness to be a matter of shortcomings in technical security systems or in the ability to secure trains from acts of antagonistic violence. Rather, they identify two additional significant vulnerabilities. First, increased organizational fragmentation in the sector is perceived as creating vulnerability in crisis management preparedness. Second, the failure to ensure that relevant actors have a cognitive and mental preparedness is seen as creating vulnerability

Civilsamhällets respons på olyckor och kriser : bistånd eller motstånd?

Projektet undersöker vilka trender och drivkrafter som finns bakom civilsamhällets respons på olyckor och kriser. Forskningen analyserar olika former av frivilligt engagemang både ur ett internationellt och ett svenskt perspektiv

Sociala relationer och sammanhållning är avgörande för att trygga servicen och stärka krisberedskapen på landsbygden : reflektioner från ett samverkansprojekt

På lördagskvällen den 16 november 2013 drog stormen Hilde in över den skandinaviska halvön med vindar på över 50 sekundmeter. Stormen slog bland annat ut stora delar av Nord-Trøndelags elleveranser, vilket gjorde att många av invånarna där sökte sig över gränsen till Sverige och Valsjöbyn i Krokoms kommun för att få hjälp med bland annat livsmedel och drivmedel. Händelsen synliggjorde sårbarheten i området och ledde till att en grupp medborgare i och runt Valsjöbyn tog initiativ till att vara bättre förberedda inför kommande kriser. Det kom att bli upprinnelsen till det arbete som genomförts i kommuner i Jämtlands län.SOT-projekte