This book examines the history of disaster management in South Africa, showing how experts, professionals and policymakers have crafted and implemented disaster policies from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. It assesses the ways in which states become concerned with disasters, the extent to which disaster management contributes toward state formation, and who and what disaster management protects. It also considers the ways in which the politics of protection continuously shift as political regimes change. In telling the story of how policies surrounding disaster protection have evolved in South Africa, the book demonstrates how the security apparatus that shaped disaster management was re-oriented in the twenty-first century towards development, alongside bureaucratic reforms that aimed to democratize the state. By examining the wider context of the globalization of disaster management, it also highlights the often unrecognised role of experts from Africa, Latin America and Asia in shaping global disaster policies. The book will appeal to scholars and students of disaster governance, public policy, state formation, and African politics.

This publication is the third biennial report coordinated by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). The first and second reports focused primarily on public policy and the role of national and local governments in disaster risk reduction. This current report explores why increasing disaster risks represent a growing problem for the economic and business community at different scales. It examines how paradoxically business investments that aimed to strengthen competitiveness and productivity may have inadvertently contributed to increasing risks. This report seeks to engage businesses in a dialogue on disaster risk management that goes beyond the current emphasis on response and preparedness and instead identifies opportunities for the creation of shared value for business and society.