P24 Navigating crisis-induced societal turbulence: the role of robust governance in ensuring social sustainability and equity

Panel chairs

Corresponding Panel Chair:      

Tina Øllgaard Bentzen tinaob@ruc.dk

Review Group Chair:                

Veronika Vakulenko

Co-Chairs 

Hans-Jürgen Bruns

Federico Cuomo

Scott Douglas

Giuseppe Grossi

Description

Turbulence represents a state of unpredictability, instability, and variability, posing significant challenges for social systems. Fuelled by often overlapping and interrelated crises, turbulence can pose a substantial risk for sustainability of public administration.

This panel aims to explore the multifaceted concept of turbulence, drawing parallels between its manifestation in fluid mechanics and its impact on societal dynamics. By examining these diverse contexts, we encourage papers that highlight the importance of adaptive and sustainable approaches to public governance in the face of crises.

Throughout the panel, the importance of sustainability and multi-actor collaboration will be emphasized. These perspectives are critical in developing robust governance frameworks that can navigate the turbulence caused by crises while ensuring the resilience and well-being of societies.

The panel welcomes both theoretical and empirical contributions and is particularly open to innovative research designs. While we invite submissions addressing a range of related topics, we are particularly interested the following topics:

• Context-related: Societal turbulence and its relationship to crisis governance in multi-layered crisis situations
  • Analysis of the rise and impact of societal turbulence and vulnerability
  • Exploration of the relationship between disaster events, societal turbulence, vulnerability and the robustness of crisis eco-systems
  • Studies of robust governance practices and emergency responses in various turbulent situations: financial, inflation, COVID-19, warfare, war crimes and refugee, etc.
• Process-related: Crisis-induced vulnerability and the robustness of multi-level and multi-actor governance
  • Investigation of the role of hybridity for robust multi-level and multi-actor governance
  • Exploring acute needs and negotiated societal intelligence in fostering robust emergency responses
  • Studies of catalysing acute needs in robust governance practices, considering multi-actor (e.g., collaborating public, private, and civic actors) and/or multi-level settings (e.g. assessing local, regional, national, or supranational), related to multi-layered crisis situations: financial, inflation, COVID-19, warfare, war crimes and refugee, etc.
• Problem-focused: The relationship between efficiency, legitimacy and creativity at the frontline of robust emergency responses
  • The role of trust and/or the liquidity of professionalism in robust governance
  • The role of creativity in managing acute emergency responses
  • The calculative tools used to manage and evaluate societal effects of robust governance during crises
  • The mediating role of various actors and/or calculative practices for ensuring social and financial sustainability during crisis.

The panel will be organized as follows:

Accepted papers will get 15 minutes for presentation, 10 minutes for discussants, 15 minutes for Q&A (in total 40 minutes per paper). Presenting authors/co-authors will act as discussants with an aim contribute to the meaningful development of the papers. If necessary, we can accommodate an online session ensuring the inclusiveness for the authors of highly relevant papers not able to attend. A plenary discussion will be discussed at the start and close of the panel to identify overarching themes.