Crisis Management

Jared Diamond's latest book espouses that nations can come out of a crisis just the way people do Ishan Kukreti

- Ishan Kukreti

ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORIAN Jared Diamond’s latest book, Upheaval, offers a unique take on how nations should cope with a crisis: just the way individuals cope with a tragedy is also the approach nations can undertake to overcome a catastrophe. He lists seven factors—acknowledging that there is a crisis, taking responsibility to deal with it, identifying the problems, gathering resources, looking for models to cope, historical lessons that may help and honest appraisal. Diamond traces the history of nations and how they overcame crises—Finland after its war with the erstwhile Soviet Union, Chile and the legacy of General Pinochet’s rule, Japan’s response to foreign superiority in the 19th century, Indonesia, after the Suharto massacres, Germany’s postwar rebuilding and Australia’s search for a postcolonial identity.