Abstract
The COVID‐19 crisis is a stark reminder that modern society is vulnerable to a special species of trouble: the creeping crisis. The creeping crisis poses a deep challenge to both academics and practitioners. In the crisis literature, it remains ill‐defined and understudied. It is even harder to manage. As a threat, it carries a potential for societal disruption—but that potential is not fully understood. An accumulation of these creeping crises can erode public trust in institutions. This paper proposes a definition of a creeping crisis, formulates research questions, and identifies the most relevant theoretical approaches. It provides the building blocks for the systematic study of creeping crises.
Highlights
The COVID‐19 crisis is a stark reminder that modern society is vulnerable to a special species of trouble: the creeping crisis
This paper proposes a definition of a creeping crisis, formulates research questions, and identifies the most relevant theoretical approaches
We assume that a society that is beset by a shared notion of crisis will try to remedy that crisis.3. This brings us to our first research question: Under what conditions and through which mechanisms is the pace of crisis development matched by a requisite level of political attention?4 We cannot assume that there is a linear relation between accumulating threat potential and rising political attention
Summary
The creeping crisis poses real conceptual problems for academics. Creeping crises pose real challenges for the world of practice (Boin & Lodge, 2019). Practitioners often find it hard to recognize the devastating potential of these creeping crises. In some cases, they do not seem to recognize the creeping crisis at all (manifestation of the creeping crisis is met with shocked surprise). We seek to define the creeping crisis, identify the challenges that it poses to academics and practitioners alike, formulate research questions, and select useful theoretical frameworks that may help address these questions
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