Focusing Events in Disasters and Development

Abstract

This chapter considers how disasters serve as an important element of the agenda setting process in developing countries. These “focusing events” highlight policy failure, and provide opportunities for change and policy learning. However, underlying the definition of focusing events relies upon an assumption of democratic institutions, such as the role of interest groups, the ability to criticize government officials, and the free and open pluralistic debate that can occur following a disaster. Therefore, this chapter studies the role of disasters in developing nondemocratic countries to see if the principles of focusing events apply to policy change and resilience the way they do in developed democratic countries. We rely on case studies of earthquakes in Nicaragua, China, and Haiti.