The Role of Public Administration in Crises Management: A Case Study of the State of Kuwait

Abstract

State of Kuwait is located on the Arabian Gulf in a region wounded by conflicts, rebellions and political instability. In June 2015 a terrorist attack by a suicide bomber detonated in a mosque in Kuwait City. This brutal act left twenty-seven people dead, and 227 wounded (Hubbard 2015). The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed to be the perpetrator of the attack. This article applies new insights in the study of crises and crisis management to the case of the Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq Mosque Bombing terrorist attack. Such new insights include the notion of crisis as process, the politicization of crises, the increasing importance of the media, and the revision of some concepts of crisis management. The article pays specific attention to the role of public officials and public agencies. It explores the contributions they made in the immediate response to the crisis.

Keywords: Kuwait; crisis management; media; police; leadership