Wishful thinking

The first order of business in crisis management is figuring out that there is a crisis. Once a brewing crisis is recognized, health officials can organize a coherent response, limit its impact, and even make an early pivot to achieve long-lasting change. Unfortunately, spotting a crisis early is far easier said than done. It’s the rare crisis that announces itself with a phone call 12 hours in advance. Most crises go unnoticed even as clues emerge, lost in the stream of the daily activity of an agency or hidden by biases, assumptions, and wishful thinking. To be successful, officials and their agencies should pursue a proactive strategy to identify crises early. There are three elements of effective crisis detection: spotting signals, pulling in data and assessing the situation, and developing a space and culture to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

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Wishful thinking

Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery ◽

10.1097/ta.0b013e31826b0146 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 73 ◽

pp. S262-S266 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Steven C. Rogers ◽

Karen Gallo ◽

Hassan Saleheen ◽

Garry Lapidus

Keyword(s):

Wishful Thinking

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Apocalypticism as Radical Realism? On the Dangers and Benefits of Wishful Thinking in Prefigurative Politics

Political Studies ◽

10.1177/00323217211018407 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003232172110184

Author(s):

Ben Cross

Keyword(s):

The Other ◽

Wishful Thinking ◽

Pivotal Role ◽

Bernard Williams ◽

Other Hand ◽

Mutual Interest ◽

Potential Benefits ◽

Prefigurative Politics ◽

Political Question

In this article, I aim to bring apocalypticism and radical realism into conversation, with a view to their mutual interest in prefigurative politics. On one hand, radical realists may worry that an apocalyptic approach to prefigurative politics may be marred by wishful thinking. On the other hand, radical realists can (and sometimes do) acknowledge that wishful thinking is sometimes desirable. I argue that an apocalyptic approach to prefigurative politics suggests one way of guarding against the dangers of wishful thinking, while allowing space for its potential benefits; prefigurativists have reason to pay at least some attention to what Bernard Williams calls ‘The First Political Question’. I will argue for this claim with reference to the case of Omar Aziz, a Syrian activist who played a pivotal role in the construction of local councils in the aftermath of the 2011 protests.

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