Managing emergency situations in Republic of Serbia: Qualitative aspect

Abstract

Research within the European project of analyzing crisis management in European countries aimed, among other things, to question the qualitative dimension of new emergency management system in Serbia. In accordance with a particulary developed methodological framework, quality of this system was assessed in terms of its efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy, based on the data gathered conducting interviews with key decision makers and secondary source analysis. The fact that the system has been in existence for only two and a half years and that it still does not work at full capacity, since it has not been completed in a normative and institutional sense, makes any attempt of serious analysis and its evaluation difficult and problematic. Nevertheless, some general remarks can be made. The system has been tested practically in the events of several natural disasters and one technological disaster. The general assessment is that, given the fact that it is not fully completed, it functioned relatively well. Recurrence of similar technological accidents like fires in night clubs, indicates the inability of the system to properly determine liability, draw lessons and translate them into standard operating policies and procedures. Procedures for determining the professional and legal accountability are complicated and take a long time so the sanctions are not effective, while due to the overall constellation of political relations political accountability is minor.

Istraživanje u okviru evropskog projekta ispitivanja kriznog menadžmenta u evropskim zemljama je, pored ostalog, imalo za cilj da ispita i kvalitativnu dimenziju novog sistema za upravljanje vanrednim situacijama u Republici Srbiji. U skladu sa posebno razvijenim metodološkim okvirom, kvalitet sistema je ispitivan kroz njegovu efikasnost, efektivnost i legitimnost, a na osnovu intervjua sa ključnim donosiocima odluka i analize sekundarnih izvora. Činjenica da novi sistem postoji tek nešto više od dve i po godine i da još uvek ne funkcioniše punim kapacitetom, budući da nije sasvim kompletiran u normativnom i institucionalnom smislu, čini svaki pokušaj njegove ozbiljne analize teškim i problematičnim. Ipak, moguće je izneti neka opšta zapažanja. Sistem je praktično testiran u nekoliko prirodnih i jednoj tehničkoj vanrednoj situaciji i po opštoj oceni je funkcionisao relativno dobro. Ponavljanje sličnih tehnoloških akcidenata, kao što su požari u noćnim klubovima, pokazuje nesposobnost sistema da na odgovarajući način adresira pitanje odgovornosti, da izvuče pouke i pretoči ih u standardne operativne procedure. Postupci utvrđivanja profesionalne i zakonske odgovornosti su spori i komplikovani, tako da sankcije nisu efektivne, dok je, usled ukupne konstelacije političkih odnosa, politička odgovornost aktera minorna.