Postdisaster Politics: New Lessons from New Orleans

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 703-725
Author(s):  
Robert S. Montjoy ◽  
Edward E. Chervenak
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Measure Change

How do disasters affect voting? A series of postdisaster studies have sought to answer this question using a retrospective framework through which voters deviate from normal patterns of political support (measured by votes or attitudes) to punish or reward officials for their performance, or lack thereof. Here, we argue that the political effects of disasters can last longer than and be qualitatively different from reactions to the original disaster because postdisaster recoveries generate their own issues, to which voters may respond prospectively, and retrospectively. Local communities affected by disasters are likely sites for this effect because their citizens experience the consequences of a disaster more directly and for longer periods than do national audiences. The case of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina demonstrates this point. Where most studies of postdisaster politics use partisanship as the baseline against which to measure change, we use race because that has been the overriding division in New Orleans. We show that local political effects of Katrina were much more complex and longer lasting than have been found in prior research based on the retrospective model. In the years following the storm, voters changed the pattern of race-based voting for mayoral candidates, approved major governmental reforms, and responded to prospective issues in their evaluation of the incumbent mayor.

THE LAPIS POLLAE: DATE AND CONTEXTS

2016 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 73-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Adamo
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Public Land ◽  
The Political ◽  
Road Building ◽  
The Road ◽  
Historical Themes

The article discusses the date, content and historical context of the lapis Pollae, a Latin inscription set alongside the road from Capua to Regium, recording the distance to various places and listing the achievements of an unknown Roman magistrate. Comparison with a milestone associated with the same road prompts a dating earlier than 131 bc, and internal evidence suggests a date prior to the Servile Wars, which broke out around 138 bc. It is further argued that by listing his achievements the magistrate was attempting to secure the political support of the colonial elites of Lucania. The article also uses the inscription as evidence for three historical themes: (1) the role of local communities and Italian entrepreneurs in the exploitation of public land in Sicily; (2) the role of local and Roman elites in southern Italian agricultural intensification; (3) Rome's use of road building to support colonization.

AFTER THE STORM: In the Wake of Katrina

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-158
Author(s):  
Michael C. Dawson ◽  
Lawrence D. Bobo
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
The Political ◽  
Large Share ◽  
Loss Of Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Many ◽  
The City

By the time you read this issue of the Du Bois Review, it will be nearly a year after the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina swept the Gulf Coast and roiled the nation. While this issue does not concentrate on the disaster, (the next issue of the DBR will be devoted solely to research on the social, economic, and political ramifications of the Katrina disaster), the editors would be amiss if we did not comment on an event that once again exposed the deadly fault lines of the American racial order. The loss of the lives of nearly 1500 citizens, the many more tens of thousands whose lives were wrecked, and the destruction of a major American city as we know it, all had clear racial overtones as the story unfolded. Indeed, the racial story of the disaster does not end with the tragic loss of life, the disruption of hundred of thousands of lives, nor the physical, social, economic, and political collapse of an American urban jewel. The political map of the city of New Orleans, the state of Louisiana (and probably Texas), and the region is being rewritten as the large Black and overwhelmingly Democratic population of New Orleans was dispersed out of Louisiana, with states such as Texas becoming the perhaps permanent recipients of a large share of the evacuees.

Privatization, Marketization, and Neoliberalism—The Political Dynamics of Post-Katrina New Orleans

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 720-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thad Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Us Cities

Hurricane Katrina was a “disaster” both “natural” and “social.” The storm destroyed a major American city that, like most American cities, was already the site of great inequality and vulnerability. It also dramatically put to the test both the logistical capabilities and the political responsibilities of national, state, and local governmental institutions. The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism, and the Remaking of New Orleans is an important collection of essays on the dynamics of “remaking New Orleans” and the limits of that effort. We have thus asked a diverse group of political scientists to review the book, and at the same time to treat it as an opportunity to reflect on two related questions: 1) What are the most important economic, cultural, and political dimensions of the crisis precipitated by Katrina, both for New Orleans and for US cities more generally? 2) What resources does political science as a discipline possess to help us understand these issues, and can political science as a discipline do a better job on this score?—Jeffrey C. Issac, Editor

Privatization, Marketization, and Neoliberalism—The Political Dynamics of Post-Katrina New Orleans

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 713-715
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Coyne
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Us Cities

Hurricane Katrina was a “disaster” both “natural” and “social.” The storm destroyed a major American city that, like most American cities, was already the site of great inequality and vulnerability. It also dramatically put to the test both the logistical capabilities and the political responsibilities of national, state, and local governmental institutions. The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism, and the Remaking of New Orleans is an important collection of essays on the dynamics of “remaking New Orleans” and the limits of that effort. We have thus asked a diverse group of political scientists to review the book, and at the same time to treat it as an opportunity to reflect on two related questions: 1) What are the most important economic, cultural, and political dimensions of the crisis precipitated by Katrina, both for New Orleans and for US cities more generally? 2) What resources does political science as a discipline possess to help us understand these issues, and can political science as a discipline do a better job on this score?—Jeffrey C. Issac, Editor

Privatization, Marketization, and Neoliberalism—The Political Dynamics of Post-Katrina New Orleans

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 711-713
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Trounstine
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Us Cities

Hurricane Katrina was a “disaster” both “natural” and “social.” The storm destroyed a major American city that, like most American cities, was already the site of great inequality and vulnerability. It also dramatically put to the test both the logistical capabilities and the political responsibilities of national, state, and local governmental institutions. The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism, and the Remaking of New Orleans is an important collection of essays on the dynamics of “remaking New Orleans” and the limits of that effort. We have thus asked a diverse group of political scientists to review the book, and at the same time to treat it as an opportunity to reflect on two related questions: 1) What are the most important economic, cultural, and political dimensions of the crisis precipitated by Katrina, both for New Orleans and for US cities more generally? 2) What resources does political science as a discipline possess to help us understand these issues, and can political science as a discipline do a better job on this score?—Jeffrey C. Issac, Editor

A Litany for New Orleans, 2005

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Political ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Current State

This chapter examines the current state of the image of black suffering and death and whether the radical potential of humane insight continues by focusing on New Orleans's experience with Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It revisits the book's analysis and theorization of aspects of critical race spectatorship that are defined as visual encounters, in which the viewer is called upon to identify explicitly his or her relationship to race and to (anti-)racism. It also considers the political activation and mobilization of the notion of looking for antiracist ends. By discussing images of New Orleans residents in the immediate wake of Katrina, the chapter emphasizes how images of African Americans founded a rhetoric of black humanity and American justice. It argues that shifting the critical gaze from the body or from the image to the idea of humanity represents a subtle move with profoundly radical consequences for our understanding of the visual encounter.

Privatization, Marketization, and Neoliberalism—The Political Dynamics of Post-Katrina New Orleans

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 709-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret E. Farrar
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Us Cities

Hurricane Katrina was a “disaster” both “natural” and “social.” The storm destroyed a major American city that, like most American cities, was already the site of great inequality and vulnerability. It also dramatically put to the test both the logistical capabilities and the political responsibilities of national, state, and local governmental institutions. The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism, and the Remaking of New Orleans is an important collection of essays on the dynamics of “remaking New Orleans” and the limits of that effort. We have thus asked a diverse group of political scientists to review the book, and at the same time to treat it as an opportunity to reflect on two related questions: 1) What are the most important economic, cultural, and political dimensions of the crisis precipitated by Katrina, both for New Orleans and for US cities more generally? 2) What resources does political science as a discipline possess to help us understand these issues, and can political science as a discipline do a better job on this score?—Jeffrey C. Issac, Editor

Privatization, Marketization, and Neoliberalism—The Political Dynamics of Post-Katrina New Orleans

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 718-720
Author(s):  
Aaron Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Us Cities

Hurricane Katrina was a “disaster” both “natural” and “social.” The storm destroyed a major American city that, like most American cities, was already the site of great inequality and vulnerability. It also dramatically put to the test both the logistical capabilities and the political responsibilities of national, state, and local governmental institutions. The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism, and the Remaking of New Orleans is an important collection of essays on the dynamics of “remaking New Orleans” and the limits of that effort. We have thus asked a diverse group of political scientists to review the book, and at the same time to treat it as an opportunity to reflect on two related questions: 1) What are the most important economic, cultural, and political dimensions of the crisis precipitated by Katrina, both for New Orleans and for US cities more generally? 2) What resources does political science as a discipline possess to help us understand these issues, and can political science as a discipline do a better job on this score?—Jeffrey C. Issac, Editor

Privatization, Marketization, and Neoliberalism—The Political Dynamics of Post-Katrina New Orleans

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 723-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Sakakeeny
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Us Cities

Hurricane Katrina was a “disaster” both “natural” and “social.” The storm destroyed a major American city that, like most American cities, was already the site of great inequality and vulnerability. It also dramatically put to the test both the logistical capabilities and the political responsibilities of national, state, and local governmental institutions. The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism, and the Remaking of New Orleans is an important collection of essays on the dynamics of “remaking New Orleans” and the limits of that effort. We have thus asked a diverse group of political scientists to review the book, and at the same time to treat it as an opportunity to reflect on two related questions: 1) What are the most important economic, cultural, and political dimensions of the crisis precipitated by Katrina, both for New Orleans and for US cities more generally? 2) What resources does political science as a discipline possess to help us understand these issues, and can political science as a discipline do a better job on this score?—Jeffrey C. Issac, Editor

Privatization, Marketization, and Neoliberalism—The Political Dynamics of Post-Katrina New Orleans

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 716-717
Author(s):  
Martin F. Manalansan
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Us Cities

Hurricane Katrina was a “disaster” both “natural” and “social.” The storm destroyed a major American city that, like most American cities, was already the site of great inequality and vulnerability. It also dramatically put to the test both the logistical capabilities and the political responsibilities of national, state, and local governmental institutions. The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism, and the Remaking of New Orleans is an important collection of essays on the dynamics of “remaking New Orleans” and the limits of that effort. We have thus asked a diverse group of political scientists to review the book, and at the same time to treat it as an opportunity to reflect on two related questions: 1) What are the most important economic, cultural, and political dimensions of the crisis precipitated by Katrina, both for New Orleans and for US cities more generally? 2) What resources does political science as a discipline possess to help us understand these issues, and can political science as a discipline do a better job on this score?—Jeffrey C. Issac, Editor

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