'Elegantly weaving theory with rich contextual studies, Professor Shahla F. Ali's Governing Disasters elevates the study of law and disasters [by] setting agendas both for scholarship and policy.' David D. Caron, King's College London 'Community involvement and public-private partnership are sometimes written off as popular buzzwords. This important and carefully documented book shows, however, that they can make a major difference in the effectiveness of disaster relief.' Daniel Farber, University of California, Berkeley 'In drawing on the new governance literature to explore the role of local actors in post-disaster humanitarian relief, Professor Ali generates important insights into the careful equilibrium of decentralization and coordination that is necessary for successful multi-level governance.' Robert B. Ahdieh, Emory University, Atlanta 'Offers a rich and comparative analysis of local participation in disaster response and recovery in six recent disasters. At a time when the international humanitarian community is stretched thin by multiple large-scale disasters, and the twin forces of conflict and larger natural disasters place millions in need of humanitarian assistance globally, there has never been a more apt time to consider seriously how best to support and enhance the capacities of local communities to respond to and manage disaster response. Governments, scholars and humanitarian and development practitioners will benefit enormously from reviewing the actual experience of local community participation in disaster recovery expertly examined in this work.' Vincenzo Bollettino, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative