Admission requirements
This course is part of the minor 'Crisis, Risk and Disaster Management' and the minor 'Crisismanagement en Civiele Weerbaarheid'; taught at The Hague by a lecturer from Leiden University. The course can only be taken within the framework of participation in the minor CRD and CCW.
Description
The real consequences of climate change are gradually emerging, especially since the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is increasing. This makes our societies more prone to disasters. While disasters are often thought of as random accidents or natural occurrences, they are actually strongly shaped by human activities and patterned along existing inequalities. The impact of natural hazards is thus not random and interacts with gender, racial and socio-economic inequalities, which make some people and groups more vulnerable than others. This vulnerability itself is the result of a range of intersecting economic, social, cultural, institutional, political and psychological factors that shape people’s lives and the environments they live in.
This course examines how disasters are governed before, during and after hazardous events. Drawing particularly on ethnographic and qualitative research that centers lived experiences, it brings together various disciplines, including political science, disaster studies, anthropology and sociology, to understand how people seek to safeguard themselves against impending hazards. In doing so, the course draws on case studies of particular disasters, such as the 2005 Haiti earthquake or 2019 Cyclone Idai, as well as broader disaster response systems at different governance levels.
Some of the main questions this course addresses are: how and why are disasters political? How do inequalities shape disasters and their impacts as well as the responses to these? What is the role of local communities, national and local governments, and international actors in disaster responses?
Course objectives
At the end of this course; students will be able to:
Identify the central tensions in disaster studies in a theoretical way.
Identify and compare key challenges in disaster governance in countries across the world.
Apply concepts and theory to real world policy questions
Analyze how political; social; and economic factors influence disaster impact and governance and identify the relationship between disaster impacts and inequalities.
Develop and present policy guidance to different audiences.
Timetable
On the right side of programme front page of the studyguide you will find links to the website and timetables, MyStudymap, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
The course will consist of seven sessions dedicated to lectures; and general debates/discussion.
The total study load for this course is 140 hours; consisting of: a) contact: 14 hrs b) self-study: 126 hrs.
Attendance is mandatory. If a student misses more than one session, they will not receive their final grade (except in highly exceptional circumstances) and will therefore not complete the course.
Assessment method
Literature Engagement
25% of total grade
Resit not possible
Needs to be compensated in case of a fail
No points are awarded for questions submitted after the lecture; late submissions are not accepted.
Final Paper
75% of total grade
Grade must be 5.50 or higher to pass the course
Resit possible
Resit will take the same form
Late hand in penalty for the final exam: 1 point minus per day; and after five days we do not accept papers any longer.
The Course and Examination Regulation Security Studies and the Rules and Regulation of the Board of Examiners of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs apply
Reading list
Will be made available via Brightspace
Registration
Registration via MyStudymap is possible from Tuesday 14 July 2026 13:00h after registration for the entire minor. Register for every course via MyStudymap. Some courses of the minor have a limited number of participants, so register on time. Registration for the exam is mandatory.
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.
Please note 1: Registration for the resit of an exam is mandatory, this has to be done by the student and can be done from TBA until 10 days before the exam. Until 5 days before the exam you can email OSC and fill in a form.
Please note 2: guest-/contract-/exchange students do not register via MyStudymap but via uSis. Registration via uSis is possible from Thursday 16 July 2026 after registration for the entire minor.
Contact
Instructor: Dr. Tanja Hendriks t.d.hendriks@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
Dedicated email address: crd@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
All sessions and communications will be in English.
Group and individual assignments need to be written in English.
Please note resits will be organised in January.