This article introduces a theory of government and voluntary sector failure in the context of disaster relief and recovery. It theorizes that government and voluntary sectors will fail based on the amount of demand. This implies that the supply of public services is fixed and demand for public services varies to a greater degree than previously considered. This article argues that government, formal nonprofit organizations, and informal voluntary groups will simultaneously fail (or partially fail) to supply public services. Furthermore, limited supply of services and varying levels of demand predict failure to deliver relief and recovery services.
BaldasT.HallC.AllenR. (2014, August14). Snyder declares flood disaster for southeaset Michigan. The Detroit Free Press. Retrieved from http://on.freep.com/VDb9s6
3.
BillisD.GlennersterH. (1998). Human services and the voluntary sector towards a theory of comparative advantage. Journal of Social Policy, 27, 79-98.
4.
BirklandT. A.WatermanS. (2008). Is federalism the reason for policy failure after Hurricane Katrina?Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 38, 692-714.
5.
BolinR.StanfordL. (1998). The Northridge earthquake: Community-based approaches to unmet recovery needs. Disasters, 22, 21-39.
6.
BrandsenT.PestoffV. (2006). Co-production, the third sector and the delivery of public services. Public Management Review8, 493-501.
Chamlee-WrightE.StorrV. H. (2011). Social capital as collective narratives and post-disaster community recovery. The Sociological Review, 59, 266-282.
9.
ChandraA.AcostaJ. (2009). The role of nongovernmental organizations in long-term human recovery after disaster: Reflections from Louisiana four years after Hurricane Katrina [Occasional paper]. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
10.
CooperC.BlockR. J. (2006). Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the failure of homeland security. New York, NY: Times Books.
11.
CoxR. S.PerryK. M. E. (2011). Like a fish out of water: Reconsidering disaster recovery and the role of place and social capital in community disaster resilience. American Journal of Community Psychology, 48(3-4), 395-411.
12.
Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General. (2014). FEMA’s initial response to the Oklahoma severe storms and tornado. Washington, DC: Department of Homeland Security.
13.
DrabekT. E.McEntireD. A. (2003). Emergent phenomena and the sociology of disaster: Lessons, trends and opportunities from the research literature. Disaster Prevention and Management, 12, 97-112.
14.
EdwardsF. L. (2013). All hazards: Whole community. In KapucuN.HawkinsC. V.RiveraF. I. (Eds.), Disaster resiliency: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 21-47). New York, NY: Routledge.
FeuerA. (2012, November9). The aftermath: A movement moves to relief. The New York Times, p. MB1.
17.
GazleyB. (2008). Beyond the contract: The scope and nature of informal government-nonprofit partnerships. Public Administration Review, 68, 141-154.
18.
GazleyB.BrudneyJ. L. (2007). The purpose (and perils) of government-nonprofit partnership. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 36, 389-415.
19.
GronbjergK. A. (2002). Evaluating nonprofit databases. American Behavioral Scientist, 45, 1741-1777.
20.
GronbjergK. A.ClerkinR. M. (2005). Examining the landscape of Indiana’s nonprofit sector: Does what you know depend on where you look?Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 34, 232-259.
21.
HaddowG. D.BullockJ. A.CoppolaD. A. (2008). Introduction to emergency management (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Butterworth-Heinemann.
22.
HakymD.McGeehanP.MossM. (2012, November14). Suffering on Long Island as Power Agency shows flaws. The New York Times, p. A1.
23.
HalbfingerD. M. (2012, November2). Anger grows at response by Red Cross. The New York Times, p. A19.
24.
HelmsM. (2014, August19). Detroiters facing flood damages get a helping hand: “You feel helpless.”The Detroit Free Press. Available at: http://on.freep.com/VDb9s6
25.
IsettK. R.ProvanK. G. (2005). The evolution of dyadic interorganizational relationships in a network of publicly funded nonprofit agencies. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15, 149-165.
26.
LaitnerB. (2014a, August26). Michigan, federal investigators view flood damage, weigh aid request. The Detroit Free Press. Available at: http://on.freep.com/1tGwCx3
27.
LaitnerB. (2014b, September2). No sure bets on feds covering rain damage. The Detroit Free Press. Availabe at: http://on.freep.com/1pyIi5C
28.
LipskyM.SmithS. R. (1989-1990). Nonprofit organizations, government, and the welfare state. Political Science Quarterly, 104, 625-648.
29.
LylesW.BerkeP.SmithG. (2014). A comparison of local hazard mitigation plan quality in six states, USA. Landscape and Urban Planning, 122, 89-99.
30.
MayP. J.JochimA. E. (2013). Policy regime perspectives: Policies, politics, and governing. Policy Studies Journal, 41, 426-452.
31.
MayP. J.WilliamsW. (1986). Disaster policy implementation: Managing programs under shared governance. New York, NY, Plenum.
32.
United States Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2013). Hurricane/post-tropical cyclone sandy, October 22-29, 2013. In Service assessment (pp. 1-66). Washington, DC: United States Department of Commerce. Available at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/assessments/pdfs/Sandy13.pdf
SaidelJ. R. (1989). Dimensions of interdependence: The state and voluntary-sector relationship. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 18, 335-347.
35.
SalamonL. M. (1987). Of market failure, voluntary failure and third-party government. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 16, 29-49.
36.
SheltonT.PoorthuisA.GrahamM.ZookM. (2014). Mapping the data shadows of Hurricane Sandy: Uncovering the sociospatial dimensions of “big data.”Geoforum, 52, 167-179.
37.
SimoG.BiesA. (2007). The role of nonprofits in disaster response: An expanded model of cross-sector collaboration. Public Administration Review, 67(Suppl. 1), 125-142.
38.
SmithS. R.GronbjergK. (2006). Scope and theory of government-nonprofit relations. In PowellW. W.SteinbergR. (Eds.), The non-profit sector: A research handbook (2nd ed., pp. 221-242). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
39.
SpanglerT. (2014, August20). Feds give Michigan the first $750,00 to fix flood-damaged roadways. The Detroit Free Press. Available at: http://on.freep.com/1oSsPx2
40.
SteinbergR. (2006). Economic theories of nonprofit organizations. In PowellW. W.SteinbergR. (Eds.), The non-profit sector: A research handbook (2nd ed., pp. 140-158). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
41.
United States Senate, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. (2006). Hurricane Katrina: A nation still unprepared. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
42.
WardR.WamsleyG. (2007). From a painful past to an uncertain future. In RubinC. B. (Ed.), Emergency management: The American experience, 1900-2005 (2nd ed., Vol. 1, p. 207-241). Fairfax, VA: Public Entity Risk Institute.
