Empathic Leadership Postdisaster

Postdisaster leadership refers to the connections between political leadership, empathy, and heroism in the public sphere following natural and other disasters.

Disaster tests leadership. Central to the many definitions of disaster are hazards and events that are produced by the natural world or by humans and cause serious disruption and have other consequences for communities. This article uses the term disaster in its most expansive sense, to encompass a range of large-scale events such as natural disasters, accidents, and terrorist attacks. Experts regularly predict more frequent and more severe disasters, including those caused by climate change (Pantti et al. 2012, 1). Communities affected by disaster increasingly will rely on effective political leadership. Against this background, this article identifies key points and themes arising from interrogations of political leadership postdisaster and connects them with concepts in heroism studies. While relevant to leadership generally, the article in particular addresses political leadership at national level because, as Christensen, Lægreid, and Rykkja (2013, 173) observe, leaders occupying such positions as prime minister function as symbolic expressions of unity following disaster. The article also addresses the role of the media because of its powerful influence on perceptions of leadership postdisaster.