Institutional Innovation and Crisis Governance: Revisiting the Experience of Iran’s Police (FARAJA) in the Bam Earthquake

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Science and Technology Studies, Institute of Cultural and Social Studies, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Objectives: The Bam earthquake represented one of the most complex crises in contemporary Iran, confronting responsible institutions—particularly the Iranian Police (FARAJA)—with unprecedented challenges. Despite its importance, the police’s capacity to generate adaptive innovation under extreme conditions has remained insufficiently examined. This study explores the dynamics of institutional innovation within FARAJA during the Bam earthquake, focusing on the emergence of improvisational and organizational innovations and the structural constraints that limited them. Methods: This research employed a qualitative, interpretive methodology and drew on secondary analysis of interview data from the “Zelzal Project.” The dataset consisted of 32 narrative interviews with senior and mid-level police officers involved in crisis management. The interviews were analyzed using multi-stage coding informed by conceptual frameworks from the sociology of innovation to identify factors that facilitated or hindered institutional innovation during the crisis. Results: The analysis revealed a dual institutional structure within FARAJA during the crisis. Localized and improvisational innovations emerged, including emergency coordination efforts, rapid deployment of forces, public-health interventions, and the management of medico-legal data. However, structural impediments—such as communication disruptions, overlapping command hierarchies, limited institutional learning, and deficiencies in critical infrastructures—restricted the continuity and diffusion of these innovations. Three major institutional barriers were identified: path dependency, the absence of reflexive governance, and shortcomings in inter-organizational collaboration, each limiting the development of sustained innovation. Conclusion: The experience of the Bam earthquake highlights the tension between operational adaptability and strategic rigidity in hierarchical security organizations. Achieving lasting institutional innovation requires establishing reflexive governance mechanisms, strengthening organizational learning structures, and enhancing cross-sectoral collaboration to support the transition of the police from a directive institution into an adaptive actor in crisis governance. Policy recommendations include forming innovation units within security organizations, institutionalizing learning processes, building inter-organizational innovation platforms, improving integrated communication and digital infrastructures, and advancing adaptive leadership.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Sociology of Social Institutions
Volume 13, Issue 27
August 2026
Pages 155-186

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