International Journal on Criminology Volume 6, Number 1, Spring 2018 | Page 73

International Journal on Criminology
Finally, in the context of crisis management it is essential for decision units
to equip themselves with a real capacity for critical analysis (Lagadec 1991). This
is important, because in the heat of the moment one has to be able to assess the
suitability of the decisions and actions engaged in, and perhaps adjust their focus.
Such critical capacity also has an important role to play when it comes to feedback,
in order to assess the handling of the crisis and identify any post-traumatic shocks.
CONCLUSION: USING ALL THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE
TO RESPOND TO MAJOR CRISES
In the present context, it is necessary to develop a field of research in France
that, even though it has existed since the 1970s, still remains in its infancy and
is just waiting to grow. It is precisely this ambition that the Institut d’Étude
des Crises is now seeking to fulfill. Its objective is to arrive at a more clear-cut use
of the word “crisis” to describe specific situations; to establish typologies; and to
provide useful modeling for the prevention and management of these exceptional
phenomena. Not every situation of uncertainty is a crisis.
This term should therefore be reserved for situations that can be described
as serious, where procedures are absent and where the pressure of the emergency
and the gravity of the “upsurge” of problems dictate that decisions must be taken
on the razor’s edge. It is essential that official texts of the future, which deal with
the prevention and management of crises, whether at the national or the European
level—such as the next White Paper on Defense and Security—provide a definition,
or partial definition, of what constitutes a crisis, in accordance with clear
strategic imperatives; but equally essential that they indicate the obstacles or limits
with which they are faced when using this term.
It is a condition that seems necessary if we wish to justify innovative research
on major crises and arrive at appropriate response strategies. All the available resources
must be mobilized, notably those pertaining to situations that are “outside
the limits,” and to “unclassifiable” crises, in order to achieve better prevention and
better management of the major crises with which France, and Europe, will yet be
confronted.
REFERENCES
Aït-Aoudia, Miriam, and Antoine Roger (eds.). 2015. La logique du désordre. Relire
la sociologie de Michel Dobry. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po.
Beck Ulrich. Risikogesellschaft. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag. 1986.
Boin, Arjen, Paul ‘t Hart, Eric Stern, and Bengt Sundelius. 2005. The Politics of
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