Abstract

This paper surveys definitions of crises from the fields of political science and communication to determine how the word “crisis” is defined. The paper argues that there are three separate but related crisis definition foci: focus on the situation, focus onperception, and focus on rhetorical construction. These foci illustrate disciplinary interests ranging from the crisis event itself to communicating that event to others. This paper suggests additional work from additional disciplinary areas are needed to gain better insights about the phenomenon of crisis and its conceptual parameters.

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