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Crisis Management

Vak
2016-2017

Admission requirements

Course for students enrolled in master program Crisis and Security Management.

Description

Modern societies are said to be vulnerable for crises, ranging from terrorist attacks, floods, pandemics and critical infrastructure breakdowns to nuclear incidents and major disturbances of public order. By exploring different conceptual and theoretical strands in academic literature combined with the in-depth study of empirical cases, students will get familiarized with the main concepts, processes, challenges and dilemmas of crisis management. Special attention will be paid to the effects of the globalization of crisis for effective crisis management, the role of leadership in crisis management, citizen response to crisis situations and the evaluation and learning cycle once a crisis has been terminated. A serious game, in which students have to deal with a crisis situation, is part of the course.

Course objectives

  • Students are able to reconstruct the historical trajectory of the discipline of crisis management by differentiating between the command and control style of crisis management versus the resilience approach as well as between the event-based approach versus the process-based approach in terms of management philosophy, key actors and their roles.

  • Students gain advanced knowledge and understanding of the role of public leaders before during and after a crisis and are able to analyze real world examples of public leaders dealing with crises in terms of challenges, strategies, and leadership styles and their outcomes in the policy- and political arena.

  • Students gain advanced knowledge and understanding of the role of citizens during crisis and are able to identify and analyze the consequences thereof in terms of communication, cooperation and self-organizing principles as presented in crisis management literature.

  • Students are able to reproduce key concepts from academic literature on crisis communication and fear management, including framing strategies, rituals of reassurance and best practices, and apply those to concrete examples of fear management efforts in practice.

  • Students are able to apply the basic notions of crisis management and crisis communication by participating in a serious game in which they have to make decisions in order to manage a crisis and active communication with the public is required.

  • Students are able to select relevant theoretical notions from academic literature on crisis management and translate these into understandable questions for professionals working in the field of crisis management and crisis communication.

  • Students are able to critically evaluate the political and societal implications of different approaches towards crisis management by differentiating between the command and control style of crisis management versus the resilience approach as well as between the event-based approach versus the process-based approach in terms of legitimacy and power relations.

Timetable

On the Public Administration front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Blackboard.

Mode of instruction

Six lectures and one simulation game.
This course is compulsory.

Course Load

Total study load 140 hours

  • contact hours: 21

  • self-study hours: reading, preparing lectures, assignments, etc 119

Assessment method

1 x rolling exam consisting of 3 essay questions (75%)
1 x evaluation serious game (20%)
1 x preparation Q&A session (5%)
Failed partial grades weighing less than 30% should be compensated by a passed partial grade weighing more than 30%. The calculated grade must be at least 5,50 in order to pass the course.

Re-take: written essay question(s).

You can find more information about assessments and the timetable exams on the website.
Details for submitting papers (deadlines) are posted on Blackboard.
On the Public Administration front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website, uSis and Blackboard.

Resit
Students will be permitted to resit an examination if they have a mark lower than 5.5 or with permission of the Board of Examiners.

Resit written exam
Students that want to take part in a resit for a written exam, are required to register via uSis. Use the activity number that can be found on the ‘timetable exams’.

Blackboard

Blackboard page will be available one week in advance.

Reading list

To be announced on Blackboard.

Registration

Use both uSis and Blackboard to register for every course.
Register for every course and workgroup via uSis. Some courses and workgroups have a limited number of participants, so register on time (before the course starts). In uSis you can access your personal schedule and view your results. Registration in uSis is possible from four weeks before the start of the course.
Also register for every course in Blackboard. Important information about the course is posted here.

Contact

All communication should be directed to both Jelle van Buuren and Ruth Prins. Please send your email to BOTH email addresses:
r.s.prins@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
g.m.van.buuren@fgga.leidenuniv.nl