Communicable Crises

This volume makes a significant contribution to the crisis management literature. It also adds to our inchoate understanding of network governance:temporary teams and task forces communities of practice alliances and virtual organizations. It hints that the distinction betweennetworks and organizations may be somewhat spurious a matter of degree rather than kind. Indeed it seems that this distinction may derivemore from mental models in which we consistently reify organizations than anything else. Finally the volume emphasizes the functionalimportance of leadership in network governance and puzzles over its provision in the absence of hierarchy. As such it adds to the contributionsmade by Marc Granovetter (1973) John Seeley Brown and Paul Duguid (1991) Bart Nooteboom (2000) Paul J. DiMaggio (2001)John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt (2001) Laurence O'Toole and Ken Meier (2004) and others as well as Nancy Roberts' seminal work onwicked problems and hastily formed teams. The result is a product the editor and the contributors can be proud of. Overall it is one that willedify surprise and delight its readers.