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Disasters can have an enormous impact on the health and well-being of those affected. Internationally, governments and service providers are often challenged to address complex psychosocial problems. Ideally, the potentially broad range of support activities include a coherent, high-quality mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) programme. We present a theory-driven quantitative analysis of the quality of 40 MHPSS programmes, mostly implemented in European disaster settings. The objective is to measure quality domains recognized as relevant in the literature and to empirically test associations. During the EU project “Operationalizing Psychosocial Support in Crisis” (OPSIC) an evaluation survey was designed and developed for this purpose and completed by 40 MHPSS programme coordinators involved in different mass emergencies and disasters. We analysed the survey data in two steps. Firstly, we used the data to operationalize quality domains of a MHPSS programme, tested constructs and assessed their internal consistency reliability. A total of 26 out of 44 survey items clustered into three of the four domains identified within the theoretical framework: “planning and delivery system” (Cronbach’s alpha 0.82); “general evaluation criteria” (Cronbach’s alpha 0.82); and “essential psychosocial principles” (Cronbach’s alpha 0.75). “Measures and interventions applied”, theoretically a potential fourth domain, could not be confirmed to empirically cluster together. Secondly, several models with associations between domains and measures and interventions were tested and compared. The model with the best fit suggests that in MHPSS programmes with a higher planning and delivery systems score, a larger number of measures and interventions from evidence-informed guidelines are applied. In such programmes, coordinators are more positive about general evaluation criteria and the realization of essential psychosocial principles. Moreover, the analyses showed that some measures and interventions are more likely to be applied in programmes with more evolved planning and delivery systems, yet for most measures and interventions the likelihood of being applied is not linked to planning and delivery system status, nor to coordinator perceptions concerning psychosocial principles and evaluation criteria. Further research is necessary to validate and expand the findings and to learn more about success factors and obstacles for MHPSS programme implementation.

This chapter provides an overview of the literature on technology and International Relations (IR) theory. First, the chapter considers how technology is treated in more general IR theory, including what role technology plays in the wider paradigmatic debates of IR. Second, the chapter scrutinizes attempts to develop specific theories on technology and international relations. Third, the chapter discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches, including whether there are some areas that are amply theorized while others remain under-researched. In particular, the chapter addresses how and to what extent various approaches have been able to analyze the relationship between technological and societal change, both including the rapid development of new technologies (concerning, for example, cyber, nano, space, robotics and AI technologies), and how technologies and critical infrastructures are becoming increasingly interconnected. Finally, the chapter suggests new horizons for empirically grounded theory on the relationship between technology and international society.

Executive summary - The bombings of July 2005

On July 7th, the morning rush hours in London formed the backdrop for the first suicidebombings in Western Europe in modern times. Three different parts of the London subwaysystem were attacked around 08.50: Aldgate, Edgware Road, and Russell Square. The three Tube trains were all hit within 50 seconds time. A bomb on the upper floor of a double-deckerbus at Tavistock Square was detonated at 09.47.

In the terrorist attacks, four suicide bombers detonated one charge each, killing 52 people. Seven people were killed by the blasts at Aldgate, six at Edgware Road, 13 at Tavistock Square, and 26 at Russel Square – in addition to the suicide bombers themselves. More than 700 people were injured. Hundreds of rescue workers were engaged in coping with the aftermath. Over 200 staff from the London Fire Brigade, 450 staff and 186 vehicles from the London Ambulance Service, several hundred police officers from the Metropolitan Police and from the City of London Police, as well as over 130 staff from the British Transport Police were involved. Patients were sent to 7 area hospitals.

How is accountability in safety management affected in and by public-private urban multiroute stations? To help address this question, major interchanges with newly tunneled lines in London and Stockholm are studied: Stratford station and Stockholm Station City. Differences in origin, national and regional significance, and specific governance features of these megaprojects are identified. Accountability in safety management appears more critiqued in the Swedish case, possibly related to comparatively higher attention to particularities of this "bottleneck" national nexus. Wrought with albeit less visible geographical and geological constraints, the comparative magnitude of London and acclimatization to projects has explanatory value. Similarity in the patchwork of public-private actors, implying fragmented governance jeopardizing accountability is observed in both cases. Both megaprojects span decades, with turnover and lack of institutional memory posing further challenges for accountability and safety. A major finding is that, complementary to standard risk analysis, accountability in the governance of infrastructural megaprojects begs improvement.

How is outer space governed? This article argues that private authority is gaining salience in space politics, even with respect to the traditionally state-centric security and military aspects of space. Further, while commercial actors have always played a role in space programs, three significant changes can be detected: transnational conglomerates and consortia as opposed to individual corporations are emerging as key partners in space politics; private partners are gaining stronger and wider responsibilities for the development and management of space programs (including manned spaceflights); and public accountability is increasingly at stake due to a widening of security in space policy. The latter development includes a blurring of key distinctions between military and civilian usage (also referred to as dual-use or dual-role application), as well as between the public and private realms.

This chapter addresses the technological megashift and implications for security and accountability within the EU. Digitalised interconnectivity of increasingly ‘embedded’ systems, infrastructures and societal functions are megashift features. Although the EU hardly lacks technological strategies, accountability structures beg improvement, and there are multiple expert groups with insufficient coordination and societal focus. The EU suffers from techno-optimism—coupled to powerful objectives of fuelling economic growth—which can lead to broadly conceived and represented security issues falling in shadow and struggles between interests being inadequately addressed. This chapter analyses how the EU deals with the megashift with respect to threats, surveillance systems, infrastructural vulnerability and public-private accountability. It is suggested that the EU take (i) a holistic grip on the megashift and implications, (ii) abandon optimistic techno-determinism for nuanced and contextual understanding and (iii) avoid outsourcing management of sensitive data and critical infrastructures.

Corporatisation of critical information infrastructure (CII) is rooted in the ‘privatisation wave’ of the 1980s-90s, when the ground was laid for outsourcing public utilities. Despite well-known risks relating to reliability, resilience, and accountability, commitment to efficiency imperatives have driven governments to outsource key public services and infrastructures. A recent illustrative case with enormous implications is the 2017 Swedish ICT scandal, where outsourcing of CII caused major security breaches. With the transfer of the Swedish Transport Agency’s ICT system to IBM and subcontractors, classified data and protected identities were made accessible to non-vetted foreign private employees – sensitive data could thus now be in anyone’s hands. This case clearly demonstrates accountability gaps that can arise in public-private governance of CII.

Purpose – Taming the complexity of crisis and integrating diverse narratives and sources regarding crisis events is a serious challenge. The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology for reconstructing, dissecting, and thematically comparing crisis experiences, using the 7/7 London bombings of 2005 as an illustrative empirical application.

Design/methodology/approach – A cognitive-institutional process-tracing methodology suitable compatible with structured focussed comparison of crisis cases (Stern and Sundelius, 2002; cf. George and Bennett, 2005) is used. This cognitive-institutional process tracing and analysis strategy consists of four steps: contextualization, development of a synthetic chronological narrative, identification and reconstruction of decision occasions, and (comparative) thematic analysis.

Findings – The paper demonstrates the feasibility of applying the methodology to real-world cases in the UK and concludes with reflections about the need for contextualized, systematic post mortem crisis analysis taking into account problem and process complexity, differential crisis performances of individuals and organizations under adverse conditions, and the increasing importance of social media and personal communications devices for crisis research and practice.

Practical implications – The methodology used in this paper has the potential to improve the effectiveness of organizational learning and reform efforts in the wake of crisis experiences.

Social implications – Insights associated with the application of this methodology can lead to improved post-crisis learning and fairer accountability processes, and thus contribute to enhancing societal resilience.

Originality/value – The study not only presents an original methodology developed by one of the authors, but also provides a systematic, relatively comprehensive and theoretically informed analysis of the July 7 London bombings based not only upon the documentary record, but also upon a substantial number of interviews.