The analysis of a public administration crisis situation: The case of migrations in Slovenia

Abstract

This paper fits into the ex-post migration crisis of 2015-16 dialogue and offers added value through its complex transboundary perspective while bringing in the national perspective of a transboundary crisis. After the largest migration flow, lacking supranational coordination and governance, Slovenia’s coping strategy was oriented towards logistical mechanisms to keep up the pressure and move the flow forward. Given the scale of the crisis, such a setting lacked a rapid response at the local level, and the high dimensionality and nonlinear interactions caused pink noise. Using a case study method, the paper argues that crisis management moved backwards and had a decoupled structure. It also calls for a more inclusive multi-level crisis management structure and investment in existing international organizations. Indeed, if the crisis interactions had taken place globally, the crisis would be less dimensional and more linear, thus avoiding pink noise.

Keywords

• public administration
• crisis management
• migrations
• Slovenia