Crisis in the Gulf of Mexico: Discourse, Policy, and Governance in Postcatastrophe Environments

Abstract

As natural-technological catastrophes become increasingly complex in their severity, scale, and duration, so too must our policy responses. Utilizing the 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as a case study, this paper explores the ecological, sociocultural, and political challenges from an interdisciplinary perspective. Consistent with prior research on catastrophes, the findings of this study indicate that the severity of disruption substantially influences the social construction of the occasion as policy actors are ill equipped to handle the challenges at all levels of government. Drawing their interdisciplinary backgrounds in history, political science, sociology, anthropology, communications, and literary studies, the authors offer an integrative policy solutions approach predicated on a model of network governance.

Department(s)

English and Technical Communication

Keywords and Phrases

BP/Deepwater Horizon; catastrophe; environment; governance; risk

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1936-7244

Electronic OCLC #

123990706

Print OCLC #

122940801

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2012 SAGE Publications, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2012

Link to Full Text

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