The global economic downturn that followed the collapse of major US financial institutions is no doubt the most significant crisis of our times. Its effects on corporate and governmental balance sheets have been devastating, as have been its impacts on the employment and well being of tens of millions of citizens. It continues to pose major challenges to national policymakers and institutions around the world.

Managing public uncertainty and anxiety is vital in coping with financial crises. This requires not just prompt action but, most of all, persuasive communication by government leaders. At the same time, the very occurrence of such crises raises acute questions about the effectiveness and robustness of current government policies and institutions.

With the stakes being so high, defining and interpreting what is going on, how and why it happened, and what ought to be done now become key questions in the political and policy struggles that crises invariably unleash.

In this volume, we study how heads of government, finance ministers and national bank governors in eight countries as well as the EU engage in such ‘framing contests’, and how their attempts to interpret the cascading events of the economic downturn were publicly received. Using systematic content analysis of speeches and media coverage, this volume offers a unique comparative assessment of public leadership in times of crisis.

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Edited by Paul ’t Hart and Karen Tindall
Published by ANU E Press
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200, Australia

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The contributors ix
Part I. Setting the stage
1. From ‘market correction’ to ‘global catastrophe’: framing the economic downturn
Paul ’t Hart and Karen Tindall
2. Understanding crisis exploitation: leadership, rhetoric and framing contests in response to the economic meltdown
Paul ’t Hart and Karen Tindall
Part II. One crisis, different worlds: the United States and Canada
3. The United States: crisis leadership in times of transition
Isaac Ijjo Donato
4. Canada: the politics of optimism 69
Anastasia Glushko
Part III. Dark clouds and turbulence in Europe
5. United Kingdom: the politics of government survival 99
Justin Pritchard
6. Republic of Ireland: from Celtic tiger to recession victim 127
Adam Masters
7. France: dominant leadership 157
Natalie Windle
8. The European Union: from impotence to opportunity? 181
Tully Fletcher
Part IV. No hiding place: the meltdown and the Asia-Pacific Region
9. Australia: ‘the lucky country’ on a knife edge 203
Matthew Laing and Karen Tindall
10. New Zealand: electoral politics in times of crisis 243
Michael Jones
11. Singapore: staying the course 267
Faith Benjaathonsirikul
Part V. Comparisons and reflections
12. Contesting the frame: opposition leadership and the global financial crisis
Brendan McCaffrie
13. Crisis leadership in terra incognita: why meaning making is not enough
Arjen Boin
14. Framing dilemmas in the quest for successful crisis management 315
Allan McConnell
15. Managing trans-boundary crises: leadership challenges for the EU Presidency
Bengt Sundelius
16. Public leadership and the social construction of economic catastrophe
Paul ’t Hart and Karen Tindall

THE CONTRIBUTORS
Editors
Paul ’t Hart is Professor of Political Science at The Australian National University, Professor of Public Administration at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and adjunct professor at the Australia New Zealand School of Government.

Karen Tindall is completing a PhD on government responses to large-scale consular emergencies at the Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University.

Case study authors (Parts II–IV)
Isaac Ijjo Donato, Anastasia Glushko, Justin Pritchard, Adam Masters, Natalie Windle, Tully Fletcher, Michael Jones and Faith Benjaathonsirikul study political science (Hons) at The Australian National University.

Matthew Laing is completing a PhD in political science at the Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University.

Theme chapter authors (Part V)
Arjen Boin is an associate professor at the Public Administration Institute, Louisiana State University.
Brendan McCaffrie is completing a PhD in political science in the College of Arts and Social Science, The Australian National University.
Allan McConnell is a professor in the Department of Politics, Strathclyde University, Glasgow.
Bengt Sundelius is Professor of Government at Uppsala University and at the Swedish National Defence College.

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