Full Description
Policy-making has always involved uncertainty; however the presence of unknowns has become far more conspicuous and problematic in recent times. One important way in which policy-makers have increasingly sought to deal with such uncertainty is through approaches rooted in understandings of risk. This book comprises a rather diverse collection of six chapters, alongside one more explicitly theoretical introduction, each taking up a distinct perspective in scrutinising the relationship between policy, risk and uncertainty.
Important concerns addressed within these different studies include: how risk-governance policies are shaped by risk awareness (or a lack thereof) and the mediating role of trust; the framing of policy through an emphasis on particular risks and the corresponding impact on societal beliefs, discourses and institutional power; the organisational processes which lead to some risks being tackled while others are neglected; and processes of (de-) politicising uncertainty at the interface between scientists and policy-makers. Contributors explore trans-national institutions, national bodies, and local government - within diverse geographical contexts including China, Brazil, the Baltic Sea, Australia, the UK, and Europe. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Risk Research.
Contents
Introduction - Risk, uncertainty and policy: towards a social-dialectical understanding 1. Nuclear power in China after Fukushima: understanding public knowledge, attitudes, and trust 2. The 'new social contract' and the individualisation of risk in policy 3. Towards a global governance of risks: international health organisations and the surveillance of emerging infectious diseases 4. Risks and political responses to climate change in Brazilian coastal cities 5. Unravelling science-policy interactions in environmental risk governance of the Baltic Sea: comparing fisheries and eutrophication 6. Risk policies and risk perceptions: a comparative study of environmental health risk policy and perception in six European countries
