Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-199) and index.
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
"Using the 1998 blackout of the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand, as a case study, the authors reveal a number of important insights into the central challenges of crisis governance in post-industrial, democratic societies. These challenges include: finding an appropriate division of responsibility and labor between public- and private-sector actors; crafting and coordinating a crisis response that addresses perceived threats to community values and avoids the twin perils of underreaction (e.g., passivity or paralysis) and overreaction (e.g., crying wolf or political grandstanding); coping with competence/authority discrepancies under stress - those who have expert knowledge of the technical issues rarely have the authority to make policy; those who have the authority generally lack the technical expertise to comprehend the subtleties and uncertainties of the issues at stake; and maintaining credibility and legitimacy when facing acute, ill-structured problems in politicized, publicized, and highly uncertain environments."--Jacket.
Text of Note
Virtually all of the sociotechnical systems that maintain public order, quality of life, and commerce depend on a reliable electricity supply, and critical infrastructure failures such as blackouts have profound implications for citizens and for those who govern in their name. Using the 1998 blackout of the central business district of Auckland as a case study, the authors reveal a number of important insights into the central challenges of crisis governance in post-industrial, democratic societies.
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Electric power distribution-- New Zealand-- Auckland-- Evaluation.