This unique book explores the problems of the national crisis management system in Russia, a country undergoing political, social and economic transition and one which is also prone to natural and man-made disasters. In detailing policy, institutional and legal issues and illustrating a number of case studies, the authors offer new ways of resolving the effects of disasters as well as increasing resilience by improving our understanding of the risks and vulnerabilities. In the book six chapters offer case studies of various types of disaster written in a unique collaboration between Russian scientists, Russian policy makers and Swedish scholars. Other chapters relate the role of mass media in Russian society and policy development. Taken together the book details changes in a crisis management system, policy and approach in a country that has undergone rapid fundamental political economic and social change.

Boris Porfiriev is Head of the Risk and Crisis Research Center and Head of the Laboratory for Analysis and Forecasting of Natural and Technological Risks for Economic Development at the Institute of Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences, and Director of the Center for Environmental and Technological Research at the International Research Institute for Advanced Systems, Russia. Greg Simons, Crisis Management Europe Programme at Crismart (Centre for Crisis Management Research and Training) at the Swedish National Defence College, Sweden.

Introduction; I: Transitional Crisis Management Policy and Russia; 1: Crisis Management and the Mass Media in Russia: Following the Historical Perspectives; 2: The Institutional Framework and Governance Model of Russia's Crisis Policy: Disaster Focus; II: Crisis Development and Management: Case Studies of Environmental and Technological Disasters; 3: Managing Alleviation of the 1995 Neftegorsk Earthquake Disaster: A Reminiscence 1; 4: Managing the Ecological Disaster in the Town of Karabash; 5: Communicating Tragedy and Values through the Mass Media During Crises: The Lessons of Submarine Accidents in Russia 1; III: Crisis Development and Management: Case Studies of Social and Political Conflicts; 6: Social Security Policy for the Chernobyl Clean-up and Rescue Workers: Crisis Chronology and Lessons; 7: Institutional Issues and the Management of the Creeping Crisis in the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic of Russia; 8: Political and Institutional Factors of the Russian Banking Crisis of 2004; IV: Transitional Crisis Management Policy: From Hypotheses to Findings; 9: Vulnerability and Crisis Development: Lessons from Russia and Other Emerging Economies; 10: Conclusion: Crisis Management Policy in Transitional Societies - Beyond the Russian Experience