In the late twentieth century, disasters seemed like distant happenings in countries far away from the prosperous West. But today they are 'coming home' with a vengeance. From global warming to migration crises, from assaults on democracy to Covid-19 and the fall-out of war in Ukraine - the West is in the grip of multiple, overlapping crises that keep its populations in a state of perpetual fear and distraction.

Disasters should be awakening us to the need to reform our disaster-producing system. Yet instead, as David Keen shows in this disturbing and original book, they are routinely being exploited for political as well as economic gain. A number of crises, whether slow-burning or sudden, are not only reinforcing each other but also bolstering the toxic politics that helped to generate them. One key problem here is the use of emergencies to vilify those who are trying to relieve them or to highlight their root causes. Unless these voices and alternative perspectives find a way to break through, we risk being locked into a system of emergency politics that is self-reinforcing rather than self-correcting - and that routinely manufactures its own legitimacy.

About the Author
David Keen is Professor of Conflict Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Reviews

"This is an important book, full of original and thought-provoking insights, about how the permanent emergencies that characterize large parts of what is known as the Global South, as well as the self-reinforcing 'magical thinking' that goes with them, are increasingly to be found in places like Britain and the United States of America."
Mary Kaldor, the London School of Economics and Political Science

"In this remarkable book, David Keen has brought decades of disaster research to devastating fruition. Once thought the lot of less fortunate regions, a state of permanent emergency engulfs the rich world. From the economy, politics and society to the environment and climate change, an interconnected and self-reinforcing general crisis now defines the way people live and die. As Keen shows, however, all disasters have winners and losers. Unable to address this general crisis and, should it reduce profits, unwilling to tackle its root causes, politicians have instead embraced permanent emergency as a new and magical mode of government. Able to override democracy in the name of emergency, the winners have foisted austerity and precarity on the masses, while inflicting acts of exemplary cruelty on the weak and vulnerable. This book lays bare the predicament and sounds the alarm: sleepwalkers, ignore it at your peril."
Mark Duffield, University of Bristol

"A comprehensive insight into how and why disasters are created by the western democracies."
Ksenia Chmutina, Loughborough University

Book Information
ISBN 9781509550630
Author David Keen
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Polity Press
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 25mm