Abstract Disaster risk can be produced through governance processes that operate before hazards occur. The role of land tenure recognition in them remains undertheorised. This study examines how uneven institutional translation of tenure recognition may shape pre‐hazard disaster risk in legally plural settings. A qualitative policy instrument analysis compares two South African National Housing Code programmes using institutional mapping, thematic coding, and abductive reasoning. Both programmes reveal conditional recognition, in which occupation gains institutional standing without equivalent integration across planning, infrastructure, and disaster risk governance. The Recognition Gap Governance and Disaster Risk Framework identifies cross‐institutional translation, diffused spatial risk accountability, and institutional bricolage as interrelated governance dynamics through which exposure may become embedded. This shifts analytical attention from post‐hazard response to the institutional processes that produce vulnerability and exposure before hazards materialise. Disaster risk reduction should engage earlier and more coherently with the governance of land use recognition and settlement development.
Abstract Since the 1990s, fragility has been used to describe low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) with limited ability to respond to external threats in ways that ensure citizen safety, security, and welfare. Fragility challenges us to engage with governance, including why and how many institutions (including those in high‐income countries) fail to protect citizens during climate change. We ask the question: how can state fragility be applied, critiqued, and expanded when considering climate change, including anthropogenic drivers, extreme weather events, mitigation, and adaptation? We present a globally applicable framework of governance fragility and emphasise the role of institutional‐level gaps in motivation/willingness to act, evidence uptake, and implementation in creating fragilities that inhibit climate resilience. Using the United States as a case study, we apply the framework to identify the political ideologies that inform institutional‐level motivations, shape evidence uptake, and moderate implementation capacity. This expanded notion of governance fragility (beyond conflict‐affected LMICs) offers a globally‐relevant lens to imagine possible solutions, including a research‐to‐practice agenda that contends both with ideology/willingness to act and decentralised forms of climate governance in the face of national‐level fragilities.
Abstract This study explores the institutional, professional, and social responses to the gender‐based violence that occurred in the wake of the 2021 volcanic eruption in La Palma, Spain. Using a qualitative methodology, it analyses the perspectives of 46 stakeholders—political decision‐makers, technical staff, and social activists—acquired through in‐depth interviews. The findings reveal that gender‐based violence was initially overlooked during the crisis as emergency actions prioritised general safety and housing. The absence of gender‐sensitive planning increased the vulnerability of women, particularly those already at risk. Although institutional efforts were later redirected to strengthen specialised services, the system remained strained owing to inadequate coordination, a lack of specific protocols, and insufficient professional training, reflecting a reactive, fragmented, and sector‐specific approach. The study also highlights significant discrepancies between stakeholder groups, linked to their roles within the disaster management system. It underlines the urgent need for early‐stage gender mainstreaming in disaster preparedness and response, including tailored protocols, continuous training of frontline personnel, and inter‐institutional coordination.
Abstract This paper critically examines livelihood recovery in the peripheral resettlement sites of Chennai, India, following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Despite the implementation of various gender‐inclusive livelihood programmes as a part of disaster recovery, our longitudinal empirical research reveals a persistent gap between formal recovery measures and the everyday conditions required for livelihoods to become gender‐inclusive and sustainable over time. Drawing on in‐depth fieldwork, we explore how women respond in the long term to these limitations: not simply through individual coping strategies but also by developing and maintaining collective, care‐centred practices, including adapting domestic spaces to work, sharing childcare responsibilities, and building networks of mutual support. These practices are often invisible in official recovery frameworks, yet they serve as critical choices for women both to sustain their livelihoods and perform their care roles. We build on Joan C. Tronto and Berenice Fisher's (1990) theory of caring to conceptualise these acts as forms of ‘caring with’, where care becomes a collective, political, and relational response to systemic exclusion. In doing so, we reposition disaster recovery not merely as a return to normalcy or economic productivity but also as a deeply social and gendered process that is shaped by care and solidarity.
Existing research on civilian rescue teams (CRTs) has predominantly focused on their roles in and contributions to disaster governance, with comparatively limited attention paid to their own development and organisational capacity building (OCB). Strengthening OCB is essential for CRT development through the integration of internal resources and external support. Drawing on resource dependence theory and the resource-based view, this study develops an integrated theoretical framework to examine OCB in CRTs. Using descriptive statistics and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the study analyses data from 816 teams across China through a national survey. The findings yield two key insights. First, the descriptive analysis documents substantial variation in the geographical distribution, organisational scale, and network integration of CRTs, providing the empirical context for examining their heterogeneous capacity building configurations. Second, and more significantly, the fsQCA results show that high OCB arises from configurations of internal and external resources. Some conditions are substitutable, whereas professional competence remains the core condition for absorbing and converting external resources into OCB. This research contributes to the literature on OCB in disaster management and offers practical implications for strengthening the development of CRTs.
