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1
Crisis and Security Management Msc - Learning &
Accountability
+ Mandatory Reading Summaries.
+ Opinion paper - professional review of an investigation
report (grade 9).
+ Final paper - Critical Review of an Academic Journal
Article (grade 7).
Week 1 - 7 of L&A, given at Leiden University.
Excludes:
- The Van ‘t Erve, S. (2021) reading.
Good luck!
, 2
Required Readings:
Boin A., McConnell A., ’t Hart P. (2008). Governing after crisis. Chapter 1, until p.21..............................................................................3
Boin, A., & ‘t Hart, P. (2022). From crisis to reform? Exploring three post-COVID pathways. Policy and Society, 41(1), 13-24…..........5
Broekema, W., Jong, W., Perlstein, S. (2025). From Crisis to Inquiry: A Framework for Designing and Assessing Crisis Inquiries from
a Learning Perspective. International Journal of Disaster Risk reduction....................................................................................................... 7
Renå H., Christensen J. (2020). Learning from crisis: The role of enquiry commissions. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis
Management, 28: 41–49.................................................................................................................................................................................10
Catino, M. (2008). A review of literature: Individual blame vs. organizational function logics in analysis. Journal of Contingencies and
Crisis Management, 16 (1): 53-62..................................................................................................................................................................13
Jong, W. (2020). Anticipating the unknown: crisis communication while under investigation. Public Relations Inquiry, 9 (1): 47-60..... 15
Rice, R.M., Bloomfield, E.F. (2022). Commemorating disorder in after-action reports: Rhetorics of organizational trauma after the Las
Vegas shooting. Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research, 5 (1): 87–112............................................................ 18
Casey, D., & Maley, M. (2026). Robodebt and the limits of learning: exploring meaning-making after a crisis. Journal of European
Public Policy, 33(1), 105-131.........................................................................................................................................................................20
Deverell, E. (2009). Crises as learning triggers: Exploring a conceptual framework of crisis-induced learning. Journal of Contingencies
and Crisis Management, 17 (3): 179-188.......................................................................................................................................................23
Birkland T.A. (2009). Disasters, lessons learned, and fantasy documents. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 17 (3):
146–156..........................................................................................................................................................................................................26
Broekema W., Kleef D. van, Steen T. (2017). What factors drive organizational learning from crisis? Insights from the Dutch food
safety services’ response to four veterinary crises. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 25 (4): 326-340.............................29
Schmidt A., Boersma K., Groenewegen P. (2018). Management strategies in response to an institutional crisis: The case of earthquakes
in the Netherlands. Public Administration, 96 (3): 513–527......................................................................................................................... 32
Reyes A. (2011). Strategies of legitimization in political discourse: From words to actions. Discourse & Society, 22 (6):
781–807..........................................................................................................................................................................................................34
Elliott D., McGuinness, M. (2002). Public Inquiry: Panacea or Placebo? Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 10 (1):
14-25...............................................................................................................................................................................................................37
Campion, M.A. (1993). Article review checklist: A criterion checklist for reviewing research articles in applied psychology. Personnel
Psychology, 46 (3): pp. 705-718.................................................................................................................................................................... 39
Resodihardjo S., Carroll B., Eijk C. van, Maris, S. (2016). Why traditional responses to blame games fail: the importance of context,
rituals, and sub-blame games in the face of raves gone wrong. Public Administration, 94 (2): 350–363.....................................................42
Bridgeforth J.C. (2020). Review of Crisis management: Resilience and Change by S. Kovoor-Misra. Book review. Wiley.................... 44
Boin A., Lodge M., Luesink M. (2020). Learning from the COVID-19 crisis: an initial responses. Policy Design and Practice, 3 (3):
189-204...........................................................................................................................................................................................................46
Lee S., Yeo J., Na C. (2020): Learning before and during the COVID-19 outbreak: a comparative analysis of crisis learning in South
Korea and the US. International Review of Public Administration, 25 (4): 243-260....................................................................................48
Boin A., ’t Hart P., McConnell A., Preston T. (2010). Leadership style, crisis response and blame management: the case of hurricane
Katrina. Public Administration, 88 (3): 706–723...........................................................................................................................................52
Weenink, J.-W., Wallenburg, I., Hartman, L., van Baarle, E., Leistikow, I., Widdershoven, G., Bal, R. (2022). Role of the regulator
in enabling a just culture: a qualitative study in mental health and hospital care. BMJ Open, 12 (7), e061321........................................... 55
Brändström A., Kuipers S. (2003). From ‘normal incidents’ to political crises: Understanding politicization of policy failures.
Government and Opposition, 38 (3): pp. 279–305.........................................................................................................................................58
Van ‘t Erve, S. (2021). Een digitale aanval op een gemeente is een aanval op allemaal. Financieele Dagblad, 6 juli. -> Article will be
provided by e-mail or via Brightspace (in Dutch and English) as a preparatation to the guest lecture......................................................... 62
Liu Y., Boin A. (2020). Framing a mega-disaster: Political rhetoric and the Wenchuan earthquake. Safety Science, 125 (May):
forthcoming.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 62
Nilsson S., Enander A. (2020). “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”: Media frames of responsibility and accountability in handling
a wildfire. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 28 (1): 69–82................................................................................................65
Broekema, W., Eijk C. van, Torenvlied, R. (2018). The role of external experts in crisis situations: A research synthesis of 114
post-crisis evaluation reports in the Netherlands. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 31: 20-29.......................................... 68
Sydnes A.K., Sydnes M. Hamnevoll, H. (2021). Learning from crisis: The 2015 and 2017 avalanches in Longyearbyen. Safety Science,
134..................................................................................................................................................................................................................71
Opinion paper: The Danger of Trusting the Screen Over the Sea............................................................................................................... 74
Final paper: From Five to Five Thousand: A Critical Review of Steen and Rønningsbakk’s (2021) Article on Emergent Learning at
Norway's Storskog Border............................................................................................................................................................................. 79
, 3
Lecture 1
Boin A., McConnell A., ’t Hart P. (2008). Governing after crisis. Chapter 1,
until p.21
Introduction
● It sets out the book's central puzzle: why do some crises produce major political and
policy change while others leave the status quo largely intact?
● The authors argue that crises are not just operational emergencies → they are deeply
political events whose consequences for leaders, policies and institutions are shaped by
processes of accountability and learning that unfold long after the immediate response
has ended.
Definition of Crises
● Crises are "episodic breakdowns of familiar symbolic frameworks" that challenge the
legitimacy of the existing sociopolitical order
● They can be triggered by natural forces, deliberate acts, or malfunctions in
sociotechnical/political systems
● They test societal resilience and expose the shortcomings of leaders and institutions
Crisis-Induced Governance Challenges
● Leaders face three key challenges: emergency response, public communication, and
managing long-term political "fallout"
● The most daunting challenges often emerge after the operational phase has ended
● Crises quickly become politicised as competing interests struggle to control the dominant
narrative
Accountability and the Blame Game
● Accountability processes ask: what happened, who caused it, who is responsible, and
who should be sanctioned?
● Three trends have made accountability harder for leaders: a more aggressive media, a less
tolerant citizenry, and increasingly organised victims' groups
● Leaders can end up as either winners or losers; outcomes include elite reinvigoration,
elite damage, or elite escape
Crisis-Induced Learning
● Crises trigger widespread rhetoric about learning, but actual lesson-drawing is often
highly problematic
● Organisations are typically poor learners; "high-reliability organisations" (HROs) are
notable exceptions
, 4
● Leaders face a tension between restoration (defending the status quo) and reform
(genuine change)
● Too many competing inquiries can actually hinder learning rather than help it
Fates of Policies and Institutions
● Crisis impacts on policy fall into three categories: fine-tuning (incremental change),
policy reform (fundamental adaptation), and paradigm shift (wholesale replacement →
rare)
● Many announced reforms prove to be rhetoric without meaningful follow-up
Situational and Contextual Factors
● The type of crisis matters: incomprehensible, mismanaged, and agenda-setting crises each
create different political dynamics
● The track record of leaders and institutions affects their resilience to criticism
● Timing is crucial → crises near elections dramatically raise the political stakes
● The mass media shapes which crisis frames gain traction and which leaders are helped or
harmed
Volume Overview
● The book uses comparative case studies (Katrina, Madrid bombings, Elbe floods,
Dutroux, 9/11, Challenger, etc.) to explore how crisis politics plays out across different
national and institutional contexts
● The aim is to build an analytical toolkit for understanding why some crises produce major
change while others reinforce the status quo
Conclusion
● The authors make a compelling case that crisis management is as much a political as an
operational challenge.
● The fate of leaders, policies and institutions in the wake of a crisis is not determined by
the event itself, but by the struggles over accountability and learning that follow.
● No single factor explains outcomes → media dynamics, electoral timing, leadership style,
the type of crisis and the resilience of existing institutions all interact in complex ways.
● The volume as a whole calls on political scientists to take "extreme events" more
seriously as drivers of political change, arguing that crises are not mere interruptions to
normal governance but revealing stress-tests of the entire political system.
1
Crisis and Security Management Msc - Learning &
Accountability
+ Mandatory Reading Summaries.
+ Opinion paper - professional review of an investigation
report (grade 9).
+ Final paper - Critical Review of an Academic Journal
Article (grade 7).
Week 1 - 7 of L&A, given at Leiden University.
Excludes:
- The Van ‘t Erve, S. (2021) reading.
Good luck!
, 2
Required Readings:
Boin A., McConnell A., ’t Hart P. (2008). Governing after crisis. Chapter 1, until p.21..............................................................................3
Boin, A., & ‘t Hart, P. (2022). From crisis to reform? Exploring three post-COVID pathways. Policy and Society, 41(1), 13-24…..........5
Broekema, W., Jong, W., Perlstein, S. (2025). From Crisis to Inquiry: A Framework for Designing and Assessing Crisis Inquiries from
a Learning Perspective. International Journal of Disaster Risk reduction....................................................................................................... 7
Renå H., Christensen J. (2020). Learning from crisis: The role of enquiry commissions. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis
Management, 28: 41–49.................................................................................................................................................................................10
Catino, M. (2008). A review of literature: Individual blame vs. organizational function logics in analysis. Journal of Contingencies and
Crisis Management, 16 (1): 53-62..................................................................................................................................................................13
Jong, W. (2020). Anticipating the unknown: crisis communication while under investigation. Public Relations Inquiry, 9 (1): 47-60..... 15
Rice, R.M., Bloomfield, E.F. (2022). Commemorating disorder in after-action reports: Rhetorics of organizational trauma after the Las
Vegas shooting. Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research, 5 (1): 87–112............................................................ 18
Casey, D., & Maley, M. (2026). Robodebt and the limits of learning: exploring meaning-making after a crisis. Journal of European
Public Policy, 33(1), 105-131.........................................................................................................................................................................20
Deverell, E. (2009). Crises as learning triggers: Exploring a conceptual framework of crisis-induced learning. Journal of Contingencies
and Crisis Management, 17 (3): 179-188.......................................................................................................................................................23
Birkland T.A. (2009). Disasters, lessons learned, and fantasy documents. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 17 (3):
146–156..........................................................................................................................................................................................................26
Broekema W., Kleef D. van, Steen T. (2017). What factors drive organizational learning from crisis? Insights from the Dutch food
safety services’ response to four veterinary crises. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 25 (4): 326-340.............................29
Schmidt A., Boersma K., Groenewegen P. (2018). Management strategies in response to an institutional crisis: The case of earthquakes
in the Netherlands. Public Administration, 96 (3): 513–527......................................................................................................................... 32
Reyes A. (2011). Strategies of legitimization in political discourse: From words to actions. Discourse & Society, 22 (6):
781–807..........................................................................................................................................................................................................34
Elliott D., McGuinness, M. (2002). Public Inquiry: Panacea or Placebo? Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 10 (1):
14-25...............................................................................................................................................................................................................37
Campion, M.A. (1993). Article review checklist: A criterion checklist for reviewing research articles in applied psychology. Personnel
Psychology, 46 (3): pp. 705-718.................................................................................................................................................................... 39
Resodihardjo S., Carroll B., Eijk C. van, Maris, S. (2016). Why traditional responses to blame games fail: the importance of context,
rituals, and sub-blame games in the face of raves gone wrong. Public Administration, 94 (2): 350–363.....................................................42
Bridgeforth J.C. (2020). Review of Crisis management: Resilience and Change by S. Kovoor-Misra. Book review. Wiley.................... 44
Boin A., Lodge M., Luesink M. (2020). Learning from the COVID-19 crisis: an initial responses. Policy Design and Practice, 3 (3):
189-204...........................................................................................................................................................................................................46
Lee S., Yeo J., Na C. (2020): Learning before and during the COVID-19 outbreak: a comparative analysis of crisis learning in South
Korea and the US. International Review of Public Administration, 25 (4): 243-260....................................................................................48
Boin A., ’t Hart P., McConnell A., Preston T. (2010). Leadership style, crisis response and blame management: the case of hurricane
Katrina. Public Administration, 88 (3): 706–723...........................................................................................................................................52
Weenink, J.-W., Wallenburg, I., Hartman, L., van Baarle, E., Leistikow, I., Widdershoven, G., Bal, R. (2022). Role of the regulator
in enabling a just culture: a qualitative study in mental health and hospital care. BMJ Open, 12 (7), e061321........................................... 55
Brändström A., Kuipers S. (2003). From ‘normal incidents’ to political crises: Understanding politicization of policy failures.
Government and Opposition, 38 (3): pp. 279–305.........................................................................................................................................58
Van ‘t Erve, S. (2021). Een digitale aanval op een gemeente is een aanval op allemaal. Financieele Dagblad, 6 juli. -> Article will be
provided by e-mail or via Brightspace (in Dutch and English) as a preparatation to the guest lecture......................................................... 62
Liu Y., Boin A. (2020). Framing a mega-disaster: Political rhetoric and the Wenchuan earthquake. Safety Science, 125 (May):
forthcoming.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 62
Nilsson S., Enander A. (2020). “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”: Media frames of responsibility and accountability in handling
a wildfire. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 28 (1): 69–82................................................................................................65
Broekema, W., Eijk C. van, Torenvlied, R. (2018). The role of external experts in crisis situations: A research synthesis of 114
post-crisis evaluation reports in the Netherlands. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 31: 20-29.......................................... 68
Sydnes A.K., Sydnes M. Hamnevoll, H. (2021). Learning from crisis: The 2015 and 2017 avalanches in Longyearbyen. Safety Science,
134..................................................................................................................................................................................................................71
Opinion paper: The Danger of Trusting the Screen Over the Sea............................................................................................................... 74
Final paper: From Five to Five Thousand: A Critical Review of Steen and Rønningsbakk’s (2021) Article on Emergent Learning at
Norway's Storskog Border............................................................................................................................................................................. 79
, 3
Lecture 1
Boin A., McConnell A., ’t Hart P. (2008). Governing after crisis. Chapter 1,
until p.21
Introduction
● It sets out the book's central puzzle: why do some crises produce major political and
policy change while others leave the status quo largely intact?
● The authors argue that crises are not just operational emergencies → they are deeply
political events whose consequences for leaders, policies and institutions are shaped by
processes of accountability and learning that unfold long after the immediate response
has ended.
Definition of Crises
● Crises are "episodic breakdowns of familiar symbolic frameworks" that challenge the
legitimacy of the existing sociopolitical order
● They can be triggered by natural forces, deliberate acts, or malfunctions in
sociotechnical/political systems
● They test societal resilience and expose the shortcomings of leaders and institutions
Crisis-Induced Governance Challenges
● Leaders face three key challenges: emergency response, public communication, and
managing long-term political "fallout"
● The most daunting challenges often emerge after the operational phase has ended
● Crises quickly become politicised as competing interests struggle to control the dominant
narrative
Accountability and the Blame Game
● Accountability processes ask: what happened, who caused it, who is responsible, and
who should be sanctioned?
● Three trends have made accountability harder for leaders: a more aggressive media, a less
tolerant citizenry, and increasingly organised victims' groups
● Leaders can end up as either winners or losers; outcomes include elite reinvigoration,
elite damage, or elite escape
Crisis-Induced Learning
● Crises trigger widespread rhetoric about learning, but actual lesson-drawing is often
highly problematic
● Organisations are typically poor learners; "high-reliability organisations" (HROs) are
notable exceptions
, 4
● Leaders face a tension between restoration (defending the status quo) and reform
(genuine change)
● Too many competing inquiries can actually hinder learning rather than help it
Fates of Policies and Institutions
● Crisis impacts on policy fall into three categories: fine-tuning (incremental change),
policy reform (fundamental adaptation), and paradigm shift (wholesale replacement →
rare)
● Many announced reforms prove to be rhetoric without meaningful follow-up
Situational and Contextual Factors
● The type of crisis matters: incomprehensible, mismanaged, and agenda-setting crises each
create different political dynamics
● The track record of leaders and institutions affects their resilience to criticism
● Timing is crucial → crises near elections dramatically raise the political stakes
● The mass media shapes which crisis frames gain traction and which leaders are helped or
harmed
Volume Overview
● The book uses comparative case studies (Katrina, Madrid bombings, Elbe floods,
Dutroux, 9/11, Challenger, etc.) to explore how crisis politics plays out across different
national and institutional contexts
● The aim is to build an analytical toolkit for understanding why some crises produce major
change while others reinforce the status quo
Conclusion
● The authors make a compelling case that crisis management is as much a political as an
operational challenge.
● The fate of leaders, policies and institutions in the wake of a crisis is not determined by
the event itself, but by the struggles over accountability and learning that follow.
● No single factor explains outcomes → media dynamics, electoral timing, leadership style,
the type of crisis and the resilience of existing institutions all interact in complex ways.
● The volume as a whole calls on political scientists to take "extreme events" more
seriously as drivers of political change, arguing that crises are not mere interruptions to
normal governance but revealing stress-tests of the entire political system.
