Crisis Communication, Liberal Democracy, and Ecological Sustainability

The Threat of Financial and Energy Complexes in the Twenty-First Century

Majia Nadesan

Crisis Communication, Liberal Democracy, and Ecological Sustainability provides a detailed and empirical analysis of the institutions, governing logics, risk-management practices, and crisis communication strategies involved in the 2007–2008 financial crisis, the 2010 BP oil crisis, and the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis. These human-engineered crises threaten sustainability through resource depletion, environmental degradation, and the growth of geo-political conflicts. Yet, the corporations responsible have returned to profitability by externalizing risks to communities and governments. In response to this pattern of crisis management, Nadesan argues that contemporary financial and energy complexes pose significant threats to liberal democracy and ecological sustainability. This book will be of interest to scholars of communication studies, cultural studies, sociology, political science, anthropology, and economics.

Lexington Books

Pages: 320 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7391-9495-9 • Hardback • May 2016 • $129.00 • (£99.00)

978-0-7391-9496-6 • eBook • May 2016 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Political Science / American Government / General, Political Science / Public Policy / Environmental Policy

Crisis Communication, Liberal Democracy, and Ecological Sustainability

The Threat of Financial and Energy Complexes in the Twenty-First Century

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Crisis Communication, Liberal Democracy, and Ecological Sustainability provides a detailed and empirical analysis of the institutions, governing logics, risk-management practices, and crisis communication strategies involved in the 2007–2008 financial crisis, the 2010 BP oil crisis, and the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis. These human-engineered crises threaten sustainability through resource depletion, environmental degradation, and the growth of geo-political conflicts. Yet, the corporations responsible have returned to profitability by externalizing risks to communities and governments. In response to this pattern of crisis management, Nadesan argues that contemporary financial and energy complexes pose significant threats to liberal democracy and ecological sustainability. This book will be of interest to scholars of communication studies, cultural studies, sociology, political science, anthropology, and economics.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 320 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7391-9495-9 • Hardback • May 2016 • $129.00 • (£99.00)

978-0-7391-9496-6 • eBook • May 2016 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Political Science / American Government / General, Political Science / Public Policy / Environmental Policy

Author

Majia Nadesan is professor of communication studies at Arizona State University.

Table of Contents

Chapter I: Dispossession: Liberalism’s Crisis
Chapter II: Liberal Government, Institutional Complexes and the Crisis of Dispossession
Chapter III: Dispossession and the Financial Crisis
Chapter IV: Dispossession and the BP Gulf Oil Spill
Chapter V: Dispossession and the Fukushima Nuclear Crisis
Chapter VI: Dispossession: Liberalism’s Crisis

Reviews

A penetrating account of the cause and the aftermath of three disasters: the 2008 financial crisis, the BP oil spill in the Gulf, and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. Nadesan shows how the alliance of nation state interests and powerful corporations, under a neoliberal philosophy, harmed the citizens of Japan and the United States, and wreaked serious ecological damage in the oil and nuclear cases. Her viewpoint goes far beyond the usual analysis of these crises by examining the institutional forces that enabled them. The indifference to the public good which links them all, along with the secrecy, cover-ups, denials, and failure to take remedial steps in the aftermath is thoroughly documented.
— Charles Perrow, Yale University