Emergency management and the intergovernmental system

The literature focusing upon emergency management is diverse and growing. A few years ago, there was little research on policy and administration in this area. Increasingly, however, there is a realization that hazards administration requires an understanding of both the policy process and the intergovernmental system within which it operates.' The importance of these two processes for understanding and improving emergency management is evidenced by a growing body of literature, as well as an increasing number of funded projects with this focus. The policy process and intergovernmental system must not be divorced from each other if one is to understand the constraints upon successful implementation of emergency management policy.2 This article expands on the importance of the intergovernmental policy system for emergency management. Despite increased attention in this area of investigation, there remain several gaps in our empirical knowledge of the relationship among the different governmental actors.3 Because of this lack of empirical work, this article is largely conceptual and heuristic. Several components of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) organization and mission apparently are ill-suited to the challenge the agency faces within the context of the existing intergovernmental policy system. Furthermore, the resulting problems are not solely a function of efforts of the agency, but stem from the events of FEMA's origin and organization, the characteristics of its organizational relationships in the federal system, and the political structure within which emergency management occurs. A brief description of the major characteristics of the political system within which FEMA developed and operates sets the context for a more detailed discussion of the agency as part of the policy system. Next, a brief review of the phases of emergency management and the integrated emergency management system (IEMS) is offered. Third, the intergovernmental setting and some fiscal considerations affecting emergency management are discussed. The fourth section of the paper places emergency management and the intergovernmental system into a policy perspective. Finally, an intergovernmental emergency management policy matrix is de-