ABSTRACT
The coronavirus pandemic has unraveled the nature of the global risk society we live in today, perhaps more than any other event before. The character of this protracted crisis—transboundary and systemic—necessitates a global and comparative perspective on risk and crisis communication. This chapter adopts this global and comparative perspective in charting the historical development of risk and crisis communication research (with insights on the contexts that influence knowledge production in the field). It also explores not only the trends and core findings in the state of research but also the differences between the norms and perspectives from the so-called mainstream “West” (Western Europe and North America) and those originating from Asia. The discussion on these differences covers the empirical research that challenges the dominant assumptions of oft-cited frameworks from the mainstream West. The realities beyond the mainstream West, as reflected in the findings of empirical research, justify the de-Westernization of the research agenda, the elements of which were also described in the chapter. Last, critical issues arising from increasingly sophisticated technologies, such as mis- and disinformation and state surveillance, are discussed, as well as possible research trajectories to keep pace with such developments.
