The political determinants of disaster communication governance in diverse regimes: Comparative evidence from typhoon response in the Philippines and Vietnam

This journal article examines how political forces shape disaster communication during typhoon disasters in the Philippines and Vietnam. Using a comparative approach, the study develops a “Hybrid Crisis Communication System” model to examine how political structures, patronage systems, propaganda machinery and media control influence information flows when disasters occur. The research draws on 636 documents collected over more than three decades and 28 in-depth interviews with political leaders, disaster communication managers, journalists and academics. It applies a Most Different Systems Design to compare two countries with similar disaster exposure but contrasting political systems: a decentralized democracy and a centralized one-party state.

The study finds that despite their structural differences, both systems subordinate public safety to regime preservation. In the Philippines, disaster communication is shaped by institutional fragmentation, patronage networks and “corrupting visibility”, while in Vietnam centralized control produces “compulsory invisibility” through information suppression and hierarchical bottlenecks. The article argues that political determinants, including political structures, corruption, propaganda and media ownership, are antecedent forces shaping disaster visibility and communication outcomes.