Assessing the Structural Deficits of US Federal Flood Risk Management
This article argues that the United States experiences the highest per-capita flood losses among industrialized nations and attributes this to federal flood risk governance that has resisted adaptive reforms seen elsewhere. It presents a multi-criteria framework to assess governance quality and compares the National Flood Insurance Program with systems in other countries. Based on qualitative analysis of legal and policy documents, the study assigns a low adaptive governance score (1.9/5). It identifies key institutional barriers and highlights missing policy revision cycles and long-term planning. The paper proposes reform principles and situates findings within debates on climate resilience and governance.