Administrative Capacity in Public Crisis Management—Better Than Its Reputation?

In most crises, local administrations are on the institutional front line and while their response can take a wide variety of forms, it requires certain administrative skills to remain capable of acting. This study argues that the concept of administrative capacity offers a framework to consolidate key topics of current crisis research with the different phases of crises simultaneously. In a qualitative case study, this research examines the capacity of local administrations during a crisis. Empirically, four administrative capacities—analytical, regulatory, delivery, and coordination capacity— are studied on the case of the 2021 flood disaster in western Germany by conducting expert interviews and employing qualitative content analysis. Ultimately, the results highlight the potential of administrative capacity as an analysis framework for more systematic comparisons. The empirical findings indicate that assessing how capable of acting administrations are in crisis situations cannot be accomplished through examining a singular dimension of crisis management. Instead, such evaluation necessitates a multidimensional analytical framework, i.e. based on administrative capacity. Building on these conceptual findings, the study proposes that the development of such an analytical framework can enhance the study of local public crisis management, being applicable across many types of crises.