"This volume explores "postcrisis politics," examining how crises give birth to longer-term dynamic processes of accountability and learning characterised by official investigations, blame games, political manoeuvering, media scrutiny and crisis exploitation. Drawing from a wide range of contemporary crises, including Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, the Madrid train bombings, the Walkerton water contamination, the destruction of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia and the Boxing Day Asian tsunami, this volume addresses the longer-term impact of crisis-induced politics. Competing pressures for stability and change mean that policies, institutions and leaders may occasionally be uprooted but often survive largely intact. This volume explores why and under what conditions preservation trumps reform in the wake of crisis."--Jacket.