I was excited when I saw that my home state, New Jersey, was discussed extensively in this week’s material. As a NJ resident who experienced the aftermath of this massive storm, I think I have a unique perspective about how the population, state, federal government each reacted to this disaster, and I think that this case, like many others that we discuss in this course, highlights how the interaction among those actors can produce positive as well as negative outcomes.
For example, the resilience of the people of NJ has been great, but the role of the government in its response has been underwhelming. Namely, our corrupt Governor Christie has proven himself an inept leader, redirecting millions in rebuilding funds to develop self-aggrandizing television commercials featuring himself and his family at the beach. This sheds light on the political nature of disaster rebuilding.
Similarly, after Katrina hit in 2005, there was immense criticism of the US government’s response and dedication to providing support to affected populations. Because this area was not particularly lucrative in terms of national GDP and the population was comprised primarily of low-income minorities, it was suggested by many that the response by the government was less willing to provide assistance to those in need.
These two cases highlight the inherently and regrettably political nature of disaster response and risk mitigation, and lead me to the question raised in this weeks module regarding the intentions of the President of the Maldives:
Is the Island President’s mission realistic or futile? First, I believe that politicians are generally apt to say whatever they believe will be politically advantageous to them. While I believe that the president may be sincere in his desire to protect the coasts of the Maldives, I also believe that interests of other politicians and leaders of the country may not be similarly aligned and, without the promise of significant personal benefit, it is possible that many political figures may resist major changes to the status quo.
I believe we see this tendency across nations and political systems, and I worry that effective coastal protections are regrettably difficult to impose, given the weight of money and private interests in politics. Since it is difficult for coastal advocates to produce examples of short term benefits to often-costly protections, it seems that creating effective change to protect the world’s coasts will remain a difficult task to undertake.
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