Climate hazards have increased in frequency across the world. The large-scale destruction, loss of lives and livelihoods, need for additional resources and disruption of regular life are but a few immediate outcomes of such disasters. Given the increasing frequency and intensity of climate hazards, it becomes imperative to understand the long-term impact of these events on people in affected regions and their relations with state and community. Political science studies are, however, largely focused on citizen reaction in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Addressing this gap, I ask how citizen-state relation evolves after dealing with a disaster.
I draw on citizen behaviour and accountability studies to propose a novel hypothesis: democratic states in disaster-hit regions witness a sustained rise in citizen ability to make effective demands of the government. I theorise that disasters trigger a rise in demand for information and public goods, leading to long lasting changes in citizen behaviour and relations and state.
I assess this argument with quantitative and qualitative data from India - a middle-income democracy. I use focus groups, survey and government sources to collect data on citizens across multiple Indian states. I analyse evolution of citizen behaviour in disaster-hit and non-disaster regions and find results that support the main hypothesis.