State Repression in Post-Disaster Societies

A natural hazard is a physical event but a disaster is a social and political phenomenon. Natural hazards are, for the most part, unavoidable and apolitical. However, they carry with them serious political, economic, and social consequences. Disasters also have adverse consequences on human rights standards. An understanding of the relationship between disasters and human rights outcomes requires knowledge of how disasters increase grievance and frustration, and impact the probability of contentious political behavior. To date, there has been little empirical or theoretical research on the specific circumstances under which disasters impact antigovernment political behavior, and even less is known of the causal chain between a natural disaster, protest activity, and human rights violations. In this book, Clair Apodaca maps a comprehensive causal model of the complex interactions between disasters and human rights violations. She claims that pre-existing inequalities and societal grieva