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Governing Disasters The Challenges of Emergency Risk Regulation Alberto Alemanno Edited by Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law and Risk Regulation, HEC Paris, France 2011 320 pp Hardback 978 0 85793 572 4 Hardback £75.00 on-line price £67.50 Qty This book is also available as an ebook  978 0 85793 573 1 from - www.EBSCOhost.com www.myilibrary www.ebooks.com www.ebookscorporation.com www.dawsonera.com www.ebrary.com/corp/ www.books.google.com/ebooks Description 'This comprehensive edited volume makes an important and much needed contribution to an increasingly important dimension of risk assessment and management, namely emergency risk regulation. Drawing upon the responses of government, businesses, and the public to the 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland - which disrupted European air travel, it offers important lessons for policy-makers who are likely to confront similar unanticipated global risks. The recent nuclear power disaster in Japan makes this volume both timely and prescient.' - David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, US Contents Contributors: A. Alemanno, N. Bernard, V. Brannigan, C.M. Briggs, M. Broberg, A. Burgess, G.G. Castellano, S. Chakraborty, A. Fioritto, F. Hansstein, L. Jachia, A. Jeunemaitre, C. Johnson, C. Lawless, F.B. López-Jurado, D. Macrae, M. Mazzocchi, V. Nikonov, M. Ragona, M. Simoncini, A.M. Viens Further information 'The challenges posed by risky decisions are well documented. These decisions become even more daunting when they must be made in a midst of a crisis. Using the European volcanic risk crisis as the principal case study, Alberto Alemanno and the other contributors to this thought provoking volume derive valuable lessons for how policy makers can cope with the attendant time pressures, uncertainties, coordination issues, and risk communication problems. Once the next emergency risk situation occurs, it may be too late to learn about how to respond. Governing Disasters should be re

The Perfect Spill: Solutions for Averting the Next Deepwater Horizon By Robert Costanza, David Batker, John Day, Rusty Feagin, M. Luisa Martinez, Joe Roman National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) f we refuse to take into account the full cost of our fossil fuel addiction-if we don't factor in the environmental costs and national security costs and true economic costs-we will have missed our best chance to seize a clean energy future." -President Barack Obama, Carnegie Mellon University, June 2, 2010 he continuing oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon is causing enormous economic and ecological damage. Estimates of the size and duration continue to escalate, but it is now the largest in U.S. history and clearly among the largest oil spills on record.1 s efforts to plug the leak and clean up the damages continue, it is not too soon to begin to draw lessons from this disaster. We need to learn from this experience so we can prevent future oil spills, reevaluate society's current trajectory, and set a better course. ne major lesson is that our natural capital assets and other public goods are far too valuable to continue to put them at such high risk from private interests. We need better (not necessarily more) regulation and strong incentives to protect these assets against actions that put them at risk. While the Obama administration's demand for a trust fund to compensate injured parties is appropriate, it arrived only after the fact. Common asset trusts and new financial instruments like assurance bonds would be better able to shift risk incentives and prevent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon. The Costs: Damages to Natural Capital Assets he spill has directly and indirectly affected at least 20 categories of valuable ecosystem services in and around the Gulf of Mexico. The $2.5 billion per year Louisiana commercial fishery has been almost completely shut down. As the oil extends to popular Gulf Coast beaches, the loss of tourism

Exploring risk communication Jan M. Gutteling, Oene Wiegman 0 Resenhas Kluwer Academic, 1996 - 221 páginas Exploring Risk Communication presents a systematic planning approach to risk communication. Risk communication is seen by many as an important tool for managing technological, environmental, and natural risks. The book's goal is to improve risk communication processes in these areas between private and public risk communication sources and the public. The systematic planning approach focuses on research activities which are considered to be diagnostic tools providing insight into the public's reactions to risks and into the public's cognitive abilities to process risk information. These studies give us the necessary ingredients for an adequate risk communication from the audience side of the risk communication process. Evaluation studies are considered necessary to monitor the effectiveness of the communication. Exploring Risk Communication provides a review of current research in risk communication, focusing on perceived trust and credibility of risk communication sources, and arguments in risk messages, risk comparison, and framing of risk. Special attention is paid to the mass media context of risks and its impact on public perception. Finally, the potential of the new interactive media for risk communication is reviewed. The authors have performed several communication studies in the risk area, working from their social psychological background. This results in a monograph interesting to those working on risk communication issues on an academic level, but the systematic planning approach is also a useful frame of reference for risk communication practitioners, or for those who are just interested in the often complex risk communication issues.

Risk Communication: A Handbook for Communicating Environmental, Safety, and Health Risks R. Lundgren, Andrea Mcmakin, Regina E. Lundgren, Andrea H. McMakin 7 Resenhas Wiley-IEEE, 2009 - 362 páginas A fully updated edition of the preeminent book on risk communication For more than a decade, Risk Communication: A Handbook for Communicating Environmental, Safety, and Health Risks has been a trusted compendium of strategies and guidance for effectively conveying risk information. Managers, scientists, engineers, students, communication specialists, healthcare professionals, agency representatives, and consultants in more than twenty countries have benefited from its contemporary, practical advice on what to do and what to avoid for successful risk communication. Now in its Fourth Edition, the handbook has been updated with expanded coverage of laws, approaches, messages, and technology-based applications such as social media, as well as all-new information on international risk communication. The handbook guides readers on: Understanding Risk Communication-Approaches to communicating risk; laws that mandate risk communication; constraints to effective risk communication; ethical issues; and principles of risk communication Planning the Risk Communication Effort-Determine purpose and objectives; analyze your audience; develop your message; determine appropriate methods; set a schedule; and develop a communication plan Putting Risk Communication into Action-Information materials; visual representation of risks; face-to-face communication; working with the media; stakeholder participation; and technology-assisted communication Evaluating Risk Communication Efforts-Why it's important to evaluate risk communication efforts; types of evaluation; and conducting the evaluation Special Cases in Risk Communication-Emergency risk communication and international risk communication Combining in-depth scientific underpinnings and the greatest breadth of information av

Managing Food Safety And Hygiene Governance and Regulation as Risk Management Bridget Hutter Bridget M. Hutter, Professor of Risk Regulation, Department of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK 2011 224 pp Hardback 978 0 85793 570 0 Hardback £65.00 on-line price £58.50 Qty This book is also available as an ebook  978 0 85793 571 7 from - www.EBSCOhost.com www.myilibrary www.ebooks.com www.ebookscorporation.com www.dawsonera.com www.ebrary.com/corp/ www.books.google.com/ebooks Description 'One of the most thorough and considered studies we have of the relationship between regulation and business risk management practices. Food regulation provides a revealing canvas for understanding the dynamics of the governance of risk.' - John Braithwaite, Australian National University Contents Contents: Preface Introduction: Setting the Scene 1. Risk Regulation and Business Organizations Part I: The Food Retail and Hospitality Industry and Risk 2. The Food Retail and Hospitality Industry in the UK: A Research Approach 3. The Food Industry and Risk: Official Data and Workplace Understandings Part II: Risk Regulation 4. State Governance of Food Safety and Food Hygiene: The Regulatory Regime and the Views of Those in the Food Sector 5. Risk Regulation Beyond the State: Research Responses about Non-State Regulatory Influences 6. Business Risk Regulation: Inside the Business Organization Part III: Conclusions and Policy Implications 7. Conclusions: Why Manage Risk? What Can We Learn and Improve? Appendix 1: Profile of Phase 2 Respondents Appendix 2: Phase 2 Questionnaires Appendix 3: Phase 3 Interview Schedule Bibliography Index Further information 'One of the most thorough and considered studies we have of the relationship between regulation and business risk management practices. Food regulation provides a revealing canvas for understanding the dynamics of the governance of risk.' - John Braithwaite, Australian National University

NHESS - Special Issues Year Special Issues 2011 "Progress in research on earthquake precursors" Eds. K. Eftaxias, T. Maggipinto, and C.-V. Meister 2010 "Extreme and rogue waves" Eds. E. Pelinovsky and C. Kharif "New developments in tsunami science: from hazard to risk" Eds. I. Didenkulova, S. Monserrat , and S. Tinti "Geo-hydrological risk and town and country planning" Eds. F. Luino and D. Castaldini "11th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms" Eds. M.-C. Llasat, A. Mugnai, G. Boni, R. Deidda, and Jordi Salat "Understanding dynamics and current developments of climate extremes in the Mediterranean region" Eds. R. García-Herrera, P. Lionello, and U. Ulbrich "Approaches to hazard evaluation, mapping, and mitigation" Eds. G. R. Iovine, J. Huebl, M. Pastor, and M. Sheridan "Radon, health and natural hazards" Eds. G. Gillmore, R. Crockett, T. Przylibski, and F. Guzzetti 2009 "Applying ensemble climate change projections for assessing risks of impacts in Europe" Eds. T. Carter, G. Leckebusch, and J. E. Olesen "Ground and satellite based observations during the time of the Abruzzo earthquake" Eds. M. E. Contadakis, P. F. Biagi, and M. Hayakawa "The GITEWS Project (German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System)" Eds. A. Rudloff, J. Lauterjung, and U. Münch "Documentation and monitoring of landslides and debris flows" Eds. L. Franzi, M. Arattano, M. Arai, P. Allasia, and D. Giordan "Models, theory, and empirical studies in wildfire hazard" Eds. R. Lasaponara "Assessment of different dimensions of vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change" Eds. T. Glade and J. Birkmann "The RISKMED Project (Weather Risk Reduction in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean)" Eds. A. Mugnai and A. Bartzokas "Extreme events induced by weather and climate change: evaluation, forecasting and proactive planning" Eds. A. Loukas, M.-C. Llasat, and U. Ulbrich "Rockfall protection - from hazard identification to mitigation measures" Eds. A. Volkwein, V

The Social Contours of Risk: Risk analysis, corporations and the globalization of risk Jeanne X. Kasperson, Roger E. Kasperson 0 Resenhas Earthscan, 2005 - 326 páginas We live in a 'risk society' where the identification, distribution and management of risks, from new technology, environmental factors or other sources are crucial to our individual and social existence. Jeanne and Roger Kasperson are two of the world's leading and most influential analysts of the social dimensions of risk. 'The Social Contours of Risk' brings together in two volumes their most important contributions to this fundamental and wide-ranging field. Volume 2 centers on the analysis and management of risk in society, in international business and multinationals, and globally. The 'acceptability' of risk to an individual depends on the context, whether in the larger society or in, say, a corporate framework. Their work clarifies the structures and processes for managing risks in the private sector, and the factors that produce or impede effective decisions. Corporate culture is crucial as they show in determining risk management. They analyze the transfer of corporate risk management systems from industrial to developing countries, and how globalization is spreading and creating new kinds of risk -- the combination of traditional and modern hazards presented by climate change, technology transfer and economic growth. They describe the new priorities and capacities needed to deal with these enhanced vulnerabilities around the globe.

Social theories of risk Sheldon Krimsky, Dominic Golding 2 Resenhas Praeger, 1992 - 412 páginas The social science approach to risk has matured over the past two decades, with distinct paradigms developing in disciplines such as anthropology, economics, geography, psychology, and sociology. Social Theories of Risk traces the intellectual origins and histories of twelve of the established and emerging paradigms from the perspective of their principal proponents. Each contributor examines the underlying assumptions of his or her paradigm, the foundational issue it seeks to address, and likely future directions of research. Taken together, these essays illustrate that the principal achievement of social sciences has been to broaden the debate about risk beyond the narrow, technical considerations of engineers and the physical and life sciences. The authors conclude that expert knowledge is not value-free, that public perceptions of and attitudes toward risks vary according to a wide range of social, psychological, and cultural variables, and that public opposition to particular risks cannot be assuaged by technical fixes. The essays reveal the circuitous paths that lead people to the study of risk, highlight how these paths have crossed and discuss some of the seminal influences on individuals and the field in general. Social Theories of Risk presents a broad, retrospective view of the state of the theory in the social sciences, written by many who have been on the cutting edge of risk research since its early days. The book includes both established and novel perspectives that address the theoretical foundations of the field and reflect what we know about risk as a psychological, social, and cultural phenomenon. The collection of papers not only informs us of the tributary ideas that spawned the social studies of risk, but also how the field has matured. The biographical flavor of the essays provides fascinating reading for established members of the field, and a v

Socializing Risk: The New Energy Economics May 27, 2010frankackermanLeave a commentGo to comments from Frank Ackerman Despite talk of a moratorium, the Interior Department's Minerals and Management Service is still granting waivers from environmental review for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, including wells in very deep water. Until last month, most of us never thought about the risk that one of those huge offshore rigs would explode in flames and then sink, causing oil to gush out uncontrollably and befoul the oceans. The odds seemed low, and still do: Aren't there lots of drilling rigs in use, year after year? Twenty years ago, your elected representatives thought that you'd be happy to have them adopt a very low cap on industry's liability for oil spill damages.  Nuclear power was never quite free of fears; it was too clearly a spin-off of nuclear weapons to ignore the risk of a very big bang. Yet as its advocates point out, we have had hundreds of reactor-years of experience, with only a few accidents. (And someday when Nevada's politicians aren't looking, maybe we can slip all of our nuclear waste into a cave in the desert.) Again, the risks are so low that you'd be happy to learn about a law limiting industry's liability for accidents, wouldn't you?  Environmentalists have long warned that the world could run out of energy and resources, from the "limits to growth" theories of the 1970s to the more recently popular notion of "peak oil." The response from economists has been that prices for energy and raw materials are still moderate, and declined over the course of the 20th century; if we are running out of something, why doesn't its price skyrocket? The problem is that what we're running out of is low-risk conventional energy supplies. Because our economy conceals and socializes energy risks, prices remain deceptively low for an increasingly risky energy supply. The market wasn't supposed to work this way. In the

10 MAY 2010: ANALYSIS The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Accident Waiting to Happen The oil slick spreading across the Gulf of Mexico has shattered the notion that offshore drilling had become safe. A close look at the accident shows that lax federal oversight, complacency by BP and the other companies involved, and the complexities of drilling a mile deep all combined to create the perfect environmental storm. by john mcquaid It's hard to believe now, as oil from the wrecked Deepwater Horizon well encroaches on the Louisiana marshes. But it was only six weeks ago that President Obama announced a major push to expand offshore oil and gas drilling. Obama's commitment to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling reflected the widely-held belief that offshore oil operations, once perceived as dirty and dangerous, were now so safe and technologically advanced that the risks of a major disaster were infinitesimal, and managing them a matter of technocratic skill. But in the space of two weeks, both the politics and the practice of offshore drilling have been turned upside down. Today, the notion that offshore drilling is safe seems absurd. The Gulf spill harks back to drilling disasters from decades past - including one off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. in 1969 that dumped three million gallons into coastal waters and led to the current moratorium. The Deepwater Horizon disaster is a classic "low probability, high impact event" - the kind we've seen more than our share of recently, including space shuttle disasters, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. And if there's a single lesson from those disparate catastrophes, it's that pre-disaster assumptions tend to be dramatically off-base, and the worst-case scenarios downplayed or ignored. The Gulf spill is no exception. Getty Images/U.S. Coast Guard Fire boats battle the fire on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon after the April 21 explosion. The post-mortems are only beginning, so the precise causes of the initial

The social amplification of risk Nick F. Pidgeon, Roger E. Kasperson, Paul Slovic 0 Resenhas Cambridge University Press, 2003 - 448 páginas The management of and communication about risks has become a major question of public policy and intellectual debate in the modern world. The social amplification of risk framework describes how both social and individual factors act to amplify or dampen perceptions of risk and through this create secondary effects such as stigmatisation of technologies, economic losses or regulatory impacts. This volume, edited by three of the world's leading analysts of risk and its communication, brings together contributions from a group of international experts working in the field of risk perception and risk communication. Key conceptual issues are discussed as well as a range of recent case studies (spanning BSE and food safety, AIDS/HIV, nuclear power, child protection, Y2K, electromagnetic fields, and waste incineration) that take forward the state-of-the-art in risk amplification theory. The volume also draws attention to lessons for public policy, risk management and risk communication practice.

Comparing environmental risks: tools for setting government priorities J. Clarence Davies 0 Resenhas Resources for the Future, 1996 - 157 páginas The budgetary squeeze occurring at all levels of government in the 1990s has made it obvious that the nation cannot address every existing and prospective environmental problem. Criticism of current programs focuses especially on the low levels of risk posed by many of the problems being subjected to regulation while more important problems may go unaddressed. Comparative risk assessment is increasingly advanced as the appropriate means for setting realistic priorities. Comparing Environmental Risks: Tools for Setting Government Priorities illuminates the increased efforts of the executive branch of the federal government to use risk assessment in its decisionmaking. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pioneered the use of comparative risk assessment (CRA) in its programs and routinely uses risk assessments of individual pollutants, the agency has not made use of CRA throughout the full range of its activities. Nor has any other federal agency. The President's Office of Science and Technology Policy has sought the assistance of Resources for the Future in formulating methods to make broader use of CRA throughout the executive branch. RFF's Center for Risk Management commissioned background papers from leading experts on CRA for presentation at a meeting with federal regulatory officials in February 1994. Comparing Environmental Risks presents the papers of this workshop, revised to include input from the meeting. The book outlines the evolution of CRA and its surrounding controversy, summarizes lessons learned from past efforts at implementation, and identifies new ways for using CRA. Representing the state of the art on programmatic CRA, the methodological analyses andpractical recommendations contained in Comparing Environmental Risks will be invaluable to all public officials and other analysts faced with

Recent decades of globalisation have created a more interconnected, interdependent and complex world than ever witnessed before. While global policy has focused on facilitating integration, the implications of growing interdependence have been largely ignored. While the acceleration in global integration has brought many benefits, it has also created fragility through the underlying production of new kinds of systemic risks. The paper conceptualises systemic risk in the 21st Century and examines the challenges it poses to global governance regimes. The 2008-2009 financial crisis illustrates the failure of even sophisticated global institutions to manage the underlying forces of systemic risk, and this is symptomatic of institutional failure to keep pace with globalisation. The lessons from the financial crisis highlight the real threat of systemic risk to other 21st Century challenges, but more importantly, they expose the profound shortcomings of global institutions to manage global systemic risks in the future. The failure of the most developed and best-equipped global governance system, finance, to recognize or manage the new vulnerabilities associated with globalisation in the 21st Century highlights the scale and urgency of the challenge.  Policy Implications The rise of systemic risk requires a systemic response. Effective global governance and policy development has never been so necessary and urgent. The financial crisis illustrated that current global financial institutions are inadequate in their policy response to systemic risk and cannot keep pace with innovation and increasing system complexity in global finance. Deeper structural changes are required, including with respect to regulatory reforms. The institutional rigidity and profound shortcomings of global institutions applies not only to global finance, but to other looming systemic risks in the future. Neither the current global governance system, nor the planned reforms, meets the test of addre

Offshore Risk Assessment was the first book to deal with quantified risk assessment (QRA) as applied specifically to offshore installations and operations. Risk assessment techniques have been used for some years in the offshore oil and gas industry, and their use is set to expand increasingly as the industry moves into new areas and faces new challenges in older regions. This updated and expanded second edition has been informed by a major R&D programme on offshore risk assessment in Norway (2002-2006). It starts with a thorough discussion of risk analysis methodology with subsequent chapters devoted to analytical approaches to escalation, escape, evacuation and rescue analysis of safety and emergency systems. Separate chapters analyze the main hazards of offshore structures: fire, explosion, collision and falling objects. Risk mitigation and control are discussed, as well as a thorough discussion of how the results from quantitative risk assessment studies should be presented.Not only does Offshore Risk Assessment describe the state of the art of QRA, it also identifies weaknesses and areas that need development. A comprehensive reference for academics and students of marine/offshore risk assessment and management, the book should also be owned by professionals in the industry, contractors, suppliers, consultants and regulatory authorities.

Handbook of environmental risk assessment and management Peter Calow 0 Resenhas Wiley-Blackwell, 1998 - 590 páginas At the heart of environmental protection is risk assessment: the likelihood of pollution from accidents; the likelihood of problems from normal and abnormal operation of industrial processes; the likely impacts associated with new synthetic chemicals; and so on. Currently, risk assessment has been very much in the news--the risks from BSE and E. coli, and the public perception of risks from nuclear waste, etc. This new publication explains how scientific methodologies are used to assess risk from human activities and the resultant objects and wastes, on people and the environment. Understanding such risks supplies crucial information--to frame legislation, manage major habitats, businesses and industries, and create development programmes. Unique in combining the science of risk assessment with the development of management strategies. Covers science and social science (politics, economics, psychology) aspects. Very timely - risk assessment lies at the heart of decision making in various topical environmental questions (BSE, Brent Spar, nuclear waste).

In contemporary culture risk is ubiquitous, filtering through a range of activities, practices and experiences. In line with rising public concerns about the management of current threats - such as crime, terrorism and global warming -interest in risk has gathered momentum in the social sciences, galvanized by Ulrich Beck's risk society thesis. Bringing together cutting edge academics and researchers, Beyond the Risk Society provides an understanding of the relevance and impact of the concept of risk in various subject areas. Contributions by domain experts critically evaluate the way in which theoretical risk perspectives have influenced their fields of interest, offering the opportunity to reflect upon the problems and possibilities for future work on risk. In assembling this collection, the editors propose a holistic and trans-disciplinary approach to understanding the nature and consequences of risk in everyday life.This text is key reading for social sciences students in a range of disciplines, including sociology, criminology, cultural studies, media studies, psychology and social policy. Contributors: Alison Anderson, Rob Flynn, Jane Franklin, Hazel Kemshall, Deborah Lupton, Phil Macnaghten, Jim McGuigan, Peter McMylor, Gabe Mythen, Pat O'Malley, Teela Sanders, Steve Tombs, Sandra Walklate, Dave Whyte, Iain Wilkinson

Risk governance: coping with uncertainty in a complex world Ortwin Renn 0 Resenhas Earthscan, 2008 - 455 páginas This book, for the first time, brings together and updates the ground-breaking work of renowned risk theorist and researcher Ortwin Renn and integrates the major disciplinary concepts of risk in the social, engineering, and natural sciences. The book unfolds through consecutive acts, opening with the context of risk handling and flowing through the core topics of assessment, evaluation, perception, management, and communication, culminating in a look at the transition from risk management to risk governance and a glimpse at a new understanding of risk in (post)modern societies. The focus is on systemic risks, such as genetically modified organisms, that load high on complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity and have major repercussions on financial, economic, and social impact areas beyond the physical world. This is essential reading for all researchers, academics, and professionals across the social sciences, sciences, medical, engineering, and financial secto

From the oil spill to the financial crisis, why we don't plan for the worst Network News X PROFILE View More Activity TOOLBOX Resize Print E-mail Yahoo! Buzz Reprints   COMMENT 50 Comments  |  View All »  COMMENTS ARE CLOSED WHO'S BLOGGING » Links to this article By Richard A. Posner Sunday, June 6, 2010 The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the latest of several recent disastrous events for which the country, or the world, was unprepared. Setting aside terrorist attacks, where the element of surprise is part of the plan, that still leaves the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the global economic crisis that began in 2008 (and was aggravated by Greece's recent financial collapse) and the earthquake in Haiti in January. THIS STORY If it seems unthinkable, plan for it Why is BP's CEO still on the job? In all these cases, observers recognized the existence of catastrophic risk but deemed it to be small. Many other risks like this are lying in wait, whether a lethal flu epidemic, widespread extinctions, nuclear accidents, abrupt global warming that causes a sudden and catastrophic rise in sea levels, or a collision with an asteroid. Why are we so ill prepared for these disasters? It helps to consider an almost-forgotten case in which risks were identified, planned for and averted: the Y2K threat (or "millennium bug") of 1999. As the turn of the century approached, many feared that computers throughout the world would fail when the two-digit dates in their operating systems suddenly flipped from 99 to 00. The risk of disaster probably was quite small, but the fact that it had a specific and known date made it irrational to postpone any remedies -- it was act now or not at all. Such certainty about timing is rare; indeed, a key obstacle to taking preventive measures against unlikely disasters is precisely that they are unlikely to occur in the near future. Of course, if the consequences of the disaster would be very grave, t

When All Else Fails: Government as the Ultimate Risk Manager David A. Moss 5 Resenhas Harvard University Press, 2004 - 456 páginas One of the most important functions of government--risk management--is one of the least well understood. Moving beyond the most familiar public functions--spending, taxation, and regulation--When All Else Fails spotlights the government's pivotal role as a risk manager. It reveals, as never before, the nature and extent of this governmental function, which touches almost every aspect of economic life. In policies as diverse as limited liability, deposit insurance, Social Security, and federal disaster relief, American lawmakers have managed a wide array of private-sector risks, transforming both the government and countless private actors into insurers of last resort. Drawing on history and economic theory, David Moss investigates these risk-management policies, focusing in particular on the original logic of their enactment. The nation's lawmakers, he finds, have long believed that pervasive imperfections in private markets for risk necessitate a substantial government role. It remains puzzling, though, why such a large number of the resulting policies have proven so popular in a country famous for its anti-statism. Moss suggests that the answer may lie in the nature of the policies themselves, since publicly mandated risk shifting often requires little in the way of invasive bureaucracy. Well suited to a society suspicious of government activism, public risk management has emerged as a critical form of government intervention in the United States.

Risk and blame: essays in cultural theory Mary Douglas 0 Resenhas Routledge, 1994 - 323 páginas "The idea of risk has recently risen to prominence in political debate, and has become the regular coinage of exchange in public policy." InRisk and Blame, a collection of essays, Mary Douglas studies the concepts of risk and blame, and suggests how political and cultural bias can be incorporated into the study of risk perception and the discussion of reponsibility and danger in public policy. Risk and Blameargues that any analysis of risk perception that ignores cultural and political bias is worthless. The text goes on to discuss questions of cultural theory, including questions of autonomy, credibility and gullibility, the origin of wants, and the idea of a distinctive thought style that is part of a way of life. Because these topics have so far only been lightly touched upon in the social sciences, risk perception is now moving center-stage as the dominant idiom of policy analysis, forcing radical reconsideration of other key topics. InRisk and BlameMary Douglas suggests that the prominence of risk discourse will force upon the social sciences a program of rethinking and consolidation which will include the anthropological approaches studied in these pages. The range of this book extends far beyond anthropology to philosophy, cultural theory, and organizational theory, making it a welcome text for anthropologists, philosophers, sociologists, and theorists.