Policy Implementation Under Pressure: How Local Emergency Managers Forge Strategic Collaborations

• In Event: Community Responses to National Crises

Abstract

Emergency management inherently grapples with transboundary challenges that demand collaborative responses across public, private, and non-profit sectors. One of the central policy problems in this field is fostering effective integration among diverse public agencies toward shared goals—particularly across the interconnected emergency management phases of preparedness, response, and recovery.

My research focuses on how emergency managers, while implementing policies, forge alliances with stakeholders based on their shared history, resource allocation, and threat perception. By focusing on how public agencies engage with different stakeholders, we examine how shared public values are articulated and strategic resources are allocated. This paper analyzes emergency managers' perceptions of collaboration across different emergency management phases based on original data from the Extreme Weather and Emergency Management Survey conducted by the University of Oklahoma. We use survey data from 313 local emergency managers across the U.S. and apply multivariate analysis to examine variation in collaboration intensity, engagement, and perceived barriers across the preparedness, response, and recovery phases. Findings of this paper indicate that the level of collaboration changes for public agencies in different stages of emergency management.

 

Ultimately, this study offers actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners working to forge more inclusive, coordinated, and resilient emergency management systems—ones that are better equipped to respond to the complex and increasingly frequent disruptions facing communities today.

Author

• Rashed Mosharref, University of Oklahoma
  Presenting Author