PhD defence by Rodrigo Mena

Mena focuses on the knowledge and practice of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster response during periods of high-intensity conflict. He argues that disasters like droughts, floods or earthquakes are a social and political phenomenon based on the interaction between extreme natural events and people’s vulnerability to harm and loss during these events. Conflict contributes to that vulnerability, thus explaining disasters and conflict co-occurrence.

Through comparative analysis of cases in South Sudan, Afghanistan and Yemen, he finds that disaster governance, DRR and response are possible and needed during high-intensity conflict moments, but the scale and impact of those actions are likely to be limited. In addition, due to the lack of (capable) governance structures and significant levels of state fragility, DRR and disaster response promotion and implementation rely on top-down international agendas, which are adapted and politically negotiated by multiple aid and society actors at different levels.

Doctoral board

Chair

Professor Wil Hout

Doctoral dissertation supervisor

Professor Thea Hilhorst

Members of the Full Doctoral Committee

Dr Hugo Slim, University of Oxford

Dr Ayesha Siddiqi, University of Cambridge

Professor Maarten van Aalst, University of Twente

Professor Georg Frerks, Utrecht University

Professor Ali Bilgiç, Loughborough University and former Prince Claus Chairholder