Governance and the design of post-disaster policies: a comparative analysis from Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the regions threatened most by natural events owing to the highly vulnerable circumstances of its urban centres. Consequently, its cities are occasionally affected by one or more disaster types, exposing problems of governance and public policy in relation to risk management. The aim of this research is to investigate the factors that influence the design of post-disaster policies. It hypothesises that in those countries with modes of governance characterised by greater articulation between State and non-State actors, the design of post-disaster policies tends to be more coherent. Methodologically, the study proposes a comparative analysis of post-disaster policies in three countries of the region affected by earthquakes: Haiti and Chile (in 2010) and Ecuador (in 2016). The findings show that co-governance in Chile resulted in optimal post-disaster policies, whereas hierarchical governance in the cases of Haiti and Ecuador led to unsuccessful and misdirected post-disaster policies, respectively.