Event Analysis

Course Reading Form
Prof. F. Phillips

Author Name:   Dani Muhtada
Title of Reading: Ethics, Economics and Environmental Complexity: The Mud Flow Disaster in East Java
Publisher: Published online in Wiley InterScience
Journal or Magazine: Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 181-191, 2008.

Main Theme: This research article deals with the mud flow in East Java and explains what is the best approach to this problem.

Major Point #1: The author explains the concepts of whole-of-government and systemic governance since these are the proposed solutions to coping with the mud flow disaster.

Author’s Supporting Evidence or Examples for Major Point #1:
The author shows a global model for the whole-of-government approach and relates it to ‘joined up’ government in the UK and ‘horizontalism’ in Canada. He explains the culture and philosophy of this approach, the ways of working, accountabilities and incentives; developing policies, designing programs and delivering services.
The author gives an overview of the systemic process defined by McIntyre and describes the characteristics of this process.

Major Point #2:   The author assesses the complexity of the East Java mudflow and its implications.

Author’s Supporting Evidence or Examples for Major Point #2:
The author states social issues with refugees; economic losses to the country resulting from the mudflow; transportation issues and environmental issues associated with the mudflow.

Major Point #3: Finding a solution to counter-act the effects of the mudflow as effectively as possible.

Author’s Supporting Evidence or Examples for Major Point #3:
The author highlights the weaknesses of the government’s national body BPLS. The author counteracts these weaknesses with the whole-of-government and systemic approaches.

Write some discussion questions for the class based on this reading:
  1. How do you write a research paper?
  2. Where and how do you collect information for a research...