Admission requirements
- Only students of the MSc Crisis and Security Management, enrolled in the specialisation ‘Governance of Crisis’, can take this course.
Description
Modern societies are said to be vulnerable for crises, ranging from terrorist attacks, floods, pandemics and critical infrastructure breakdowns to nuclear incidents and major disturbances of public order. By exploring different conceptual and theoretical strands in academic literature combined with the in-depth study of empirical cases, students will get familiarised with the main concepts, processes, challenges, and dilemmas of crisis management. Special attention will be paid to what effective crisis management entails, the role of leadership in crisis management, citizen responses to crises, and the politics of crisis management.
The research skill of analysis is at the heart of this course, that will be taught based on several activating working methods, such as: a serious game/simulation, group discussions and presentations, a scenario-thinking workshop and in-class formative (group) assignments. Students will learn to translate their comparative analysis of several crises to a policy-oriented paper that will prepare them for the labour market in the field of crisis management.
Course Objectives
After finalising this course, students will be able to:
- Reconstruct a crisis situation, seeking evidence and drawing from empirical and theoretical materials for an informed and critical judgment, to analyse the performance of crisis managers in terms of the key concepts taught in the course.
- Reconstruct the historical trajectory of the discipline of crisis management by differentiating between command & control versus resilience philosophies, and between event-based versus process-based approaches.
- Understand, based on advanced knowledge, the role of public leaders dealing with crises, and identify and apply theoretical and analytical frameworks, in a conceptually and methodologically rigorous manner, to analyse real-world cases in terms of challenges, strategies, leadership styles, and their outcomes in the policy- and political arena.
- Understand, based on advanced knowledge, the role of citizens during crisis, and identify and analyse the consequences thereof in terms of communication, cooperation and self-organising principles.
- Apply theories to cases in an academic essay to analyse and compare cases from a specified perspective, and offer a sound and balanced argumentation with an eye for the validity and reliability of data in crisis research.
- Apply the basic notions of crisis management, recognise decision-making biases, and critically reflect on their own performance in crisis simulations.
- Discuss the main challenges and opportunities that relevant stakeholders at multiple levels of governance experience, and critically assess the political and societal implications of crisis management in terms of legitimacy and power relations.
- Translate academic knowledge into policy-oriented recommendations, and, in doing so, show an attitude aimed at a high level of self-directed and autonomous learning and functioning.
- Self-evaluate and reflect after interactive in-class work and individual assignments.
Timetable
On the right side of programme front page of the studyguide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of Instruction
A combination of interactive lectures and activating workgroups (two sessions per week). In the lectures, students will learn the key principles of research, and the relevant concepts and methodologies. In the workgroups, students will practise research design and methods by applying the concepts, testing theories, and analysing empirical material. The workgroups will, amongst others, consist of in-class assignments, team performances, peer review and exercises and feature several compulsory formative (non-graded) assignments that will help the student prepare for the summative (graded) assignments.
Attendance on-site is mandatory. Students are only allowed to miss a maximum of two sessions if there are special, demonstrable personal circumstances. The Board of Examiners, in consultation with the study advisors, will decide on such an exceptional exemption of mandatory attendance.
Total study load: 280 hours
contact hours: 42
self-study hours: reading, preparing lectures, assignments, reflection, etc.: 238
In this 10 ects course, we will focus on the research skill assignment that is going to be part of your portfolio. Specific information on the portfolio assignment and the intended learning outcomes that are being acquired will be published in the syllabus of this course.
Assessment method
Assessment for this course is based on three assignments
Paper
40% of final grade
Grade cannot be compensated, a 5.50 is required to pass the course
Resit possible
Resit will take the same form
Group paper
20% of final grade
Grade must be compensated in case of a fail (grade < 5.50)
Resit not possible
Paper
40% of final grade
Grade cannot be compensated, a 5.50 is required to pass the course
Resit possible
Resit will take the same form
Additional, formative (non-graded) assignments are an obligatory part of the course.
The calculated overall course grade must be at least 5.50 in order to pass the course. If the calculated overall course grade is lower than 5.50, students are also permitted to resit the 40% papers.
In the case of written assessment methods, the examiner can always initiate a follow-up conversation with the student to establish whether the learning objectives have been met.
Transitional arrangement
Passed partial grades obtained in year 2023-2024 remain valid during year 2024-2025.
Please be aware that passed partial grades obtained in academic year 2024-2025 are no longer valid during academic year 2025-2026.
Reading list
A selection of books, reports and articles, to be announced on Brightspace.
Registration
Register yourself via MyStudymap for each course, workgroup and exam (not all courses have workgroups and/or exams).
Do so on time, before the start of the course; some courses and workgroups have limited spaces. You can view your personal schedule in MyTimetable after logging in.
Registration for this course is possible from Wednesday 12 July 13.00h
Leiden University uses Brightspace as its online learning management system. After enrolment for the course in MyStudymap you will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment of this course.
More information on registration via MyStudymap can be found on this page.
Contact
You can reach dr. Jeroen Wolbers and prof.dr. Sanneke Kuipers via: crisisresponse.csm@fgga.leidenuniv.nl