There is no such thing as a crisis: A critique of and alterative to the dominant crisis management model

摘要

In this Forum piece, I propose an alternative conceptual model, one that replaces the crisis event with the claim of urgency made by a leader as the focal unit of analysis. The proposed crisis-as-claim model insists that no claim of urgency is legitimate per se. From the perspective of the researcher, the crisis-asclaim model reverses cause-and effect from the event to the claim as independent variable. Finally, the crisis-as-claim model elides the consideration of heroic leadership so common in the crisis-as-event model, positioning instead leaders as claims makers always intent on advancing interests and enhancing power.