Thomas Birkland
Thomas A. Birkland is the William T. Kretzer Professor of Public Policy in the School of Public and International Affairs at North Carolina State University. He has studied the politics and policy dimensions of natural hazards and technological accidents for more than nineteen years.
Before joining North Carolina State, Birkland was an associate professor of public administration and the director of the Center for Policy Research in the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the State University of New York at Albany. In 2006, Birkland was the program director for the Infrastructure Management and Hazard Response Program at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Birkland received his PhD is from the University of Washington and also has degrees from the University of Oregon and Rutgers University. He is the author of two books and several articles on the political and public policy aspects of natural disasters. His most recent book, “Lessons of Disaster,” was published by Georgetown University Press in 2006. It is a follow-up to his study, “After Disaster,” published in 1997 by the same press.
His current research interests are in the policy aspects of long-term recovery and in matters of policy failure and learning following major disasters. He is also the leader of the third iteration of the National Science Foundation-funded project Enabling the Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Researchers, a program designed to attract young and enthusiastic scholars to disasters and hazards research.
Related Resources from Thomas Birkland
Disasters, Catastrophes, and Policy Failure in the Homeland Security Era
Review of Policy Research, 2009
More Resources by Thomas Birkland from the Natural Hazards Library Staff
Is federalism the reason for policy failure in Hurricane Katrina?
Publius, Special issue: Attribution of Governmental Blame in Times of Disaster, 2008
Lessons of Disaster: Policy Change after Catastrophic Events
Georgetown University Press, 2007, pp. 106-116