Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2015

 

Changes in the Structure of Emergency Management in China and a Theoretical Generalization

(Abstract)

 

Zhang Haibo and Tong Xing

 

In terms of systems thinking, the practice of emergency management in China has an internal structure involving five dimensions: social change, governance transition, government architecture, policy systems, and operational mechanisms. Looking at major disasters over the ten years from SARS in 2003 to the Lushan Earthquake of 2013, we discuss structural changes in emergency management across these five dimensions. Overall, the structural confinement of Chinese emergency management has coexisted with its structural evolution. At present, structural confinement is dominant but there are also forces driving structural evolution. Using inductive logic and the comparative method, we can produce a theoretical generalization on Chinese emergency management, proposing a “comet” structure and “comet-tail” effect and formulating a theoretical proposition on Chinese emergency management. The fact that the latter is not connected with a structure but progresses independently is the fundamental reason for its present predicament. Therefore, it should revert to having a structure, take advantage of opportune circumstances, and make progress with structural evolution.