Disaster and Sociolegal Studies

Authors

  • Susan Sterett University of Denver

Keywords:

Disaster, juridification, risk, legal mobilization, social welfare, Desastre, juridificación, riesgo, movilización legal, bienestar social

Abstract

Disasters are treated as independent events external to law. However, social processes define the beginning, end and extent of those events for mitigation, adaptation and response and recovery; those processes include the mobilization of law by people and organizations. Within the sociology of disaster, it is tempting to treat law as a problem-solving tool. Sociolegal analysis approaches law more skeptically: legal actors face problems and defer to the decisions others have made, or discount future problems as much as other institutions do and thereby contribute to problems, or offer compensation that does not ameliorate the inequality within and among countries that disaster can exacerbate. Law can signal that it is doing something about problems via national or supranational rights; for it actually to help requires legal actors to mobilize. Finally, the site of law has been displaced: from law being within public authority enacted through institutions to law as a matter of individual, self-governance set in expectation of disaster, and humanitarian assistance done through non-governmental organizations. This collection contributes analyses of individuals and organizations' action in disaster through legal processes.

Los desastres se tratan como hechos independientes externos al derecho. Sin embargo, los procesos sociales definen el principio, el final y el alcance de esos acontecimientos en lo que respecta a su mitigación, adaptación, respuesta y recuperación; esos procesos incluyen la movilización del derecho por personas y organizaciones. En el ámbito de la sociología de los desastres, es tentador tratar el derecho como una herramienta para la resolución de problemas. Sin embargo, los análisis sociojurídicos se aproximan al derecho de forma más escéptica: los actores legales se enfrentan a problemas y se adhieren a decisiones que otros han tomado, o descartan problemas futuros de la misma forma que otras instituciones, aumentando así los problemas, u ofrecen una compensación que no mejora la desigualdad dentro de y entre los países, que en parte se ve agravada por los desastres. El derecho puede defender que está tratando los problemas a través del derecho nacional o supranacional; pero lo que realmente hace falta para ayudar requiere que los actores legales se movilicen. Por último, ha cambiado el lugar que ocupa el derecho: ha pasado de ser una autoridad pública, que actúa a través de instituciones, a tener carácter individual, con la prevención de desastres basada en el autogobierno, y siendo organizaciones no gubernamentales las que ofrecen la ayuda humanitaria. Este número ofrece un análisis de las acciones de individuos y organizaciones en caso de desastres, a través de los procesos legales.

DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2221275

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Author Biography

Susan Sterett, University of Denver

Susan Sterett is currently on leave from the University of Denver and serving as a program officer for the Law and Social Sciences program at the National Science Foundation. She has been at the university since 1993. She has served as associate dean, and as the chair of the Department of Political Science. She teaches in law, politics and social welfare. She has been a Fulbright scholar at the China University of Political Science and Law, a Fubright senior specialist at Tongji University in Shanghai, a fellow at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, and a Fulbright scholar at the Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations at the University of Warwick.

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Published

19-03-2013

How to Cite

Sterett, S. (2013) “Disaster and Sociolegal Studies”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 3(2), pp. 161–179. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/268 (Accessed: 29 March 2024).