Transboundary Crises through the Eyes of Policymakers: Sense Making and Crisis Management

Abstract

If the world of crisis is changing, it is crucial to understand how policymakers perceive these new, transboundary threats. This article explores how policymakers made sense of such crises in 81 cases. The findings indicate that how much time urgency and surprise the policymakers perceived accompanied a transboundary threat helped to shape the nature of their decision‐making process and how they managed the crisis. The data suggest that researchers and practitioners can gain an idea of how a crisis is likely to be managed by ascertaining how policymakers are viewing the triggering event.