Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Problem of Governance in the Risk Society: Envisaging Strategies, Managing Not-knowing

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Risk Governance

Abstract

This chapter addresses the problem of risk management in an increasingly complex and labile world. The discussion of governance is situated within the theoretical framework of the risk society and develops a critical sociological understanding of the ways in which expert institutions handle risky situations that are marked by multiple uncertainties.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • 9/11 Commission. 2004. Final report of the National Commission on terrorist attacks upon the United States. Washington: National Commission on Terrorist Attacks.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams, J. 1985. Risk. London: UCL Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amoore, L. 2007. Vigilant visualities: The watchful politics of the war on terror. Security Dialogue 38: 215–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amoore, L., and M. de Goede. 2008. Risk and the war on terror. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aradau, C., and R. Van Munster. 2008. Governing terrorism through risk: Taking precautions, (un)knowing the future. European Journal of International Relations 13(1): 89–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnoldi, J. 2009. Risk. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. 1992. Risk society: Towards a new modernity. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. 1995. Ecological politics in an age of risk. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. 1999. World risk society. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. 2009. World at risk. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biglino, I. 2002. Anti-terrorism legislation in Britain. London: Liberty.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyne, R. 2003. Risk. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkitt, I. 2005. Powerful emotions: Power, government and opposition in the war on terror. Sociology 39: 679–695.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denney, D. 2005. Risk and society. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dick, P.K. 1956. Minority report. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodd, V. 2005. Asian men targeted in stop and search. The Guardian, August 17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, M., and A. Wildavsky. 1982. Risk and culture: An essay on the selection of technical and environmental dangers. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekberg, M. 2007. The parameters of the risk society: A review and exploration. Current Sociology 55: 342–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, A. 2002. Beck’s sociology of risk: A critical assessment. Sociology 36(2): 293–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, A. 2009. Series editors foreward. In Risk, vulnerability and everyday life, ed. I. Wilkinson. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewald, F. 1991. Insurance and risk. In The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality, ed. G. Burchell, C. Gordon, and P. Miller. London: Harvester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. 1998. Risk society and the context of British politics. In The politics of risk society, ed. J. Franklin. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. 1999. Risk and responsibility. The Modern Law Review 62(1): 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grusin, R. 2004. Premediation. Criticism 46: 17–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutter, B. 2005. The attractions of risk-based regulation: Accounting for the emergence of risk ideas in regulation, CARR discussion paper no. 33. London: LSE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kearon, T., G. Mythen, and S. Walklate. 2007. Making sense of the terrorist risk: Public perceptions of emergency advice. Security Journal 20(2): 77–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemshall, H. 2003. Understanding risk in criminal justice. Buckingham: OUP.

    Google Scholar 

  • LSE/Guardian Report. 2011. Reading the riots. London: Guardian.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCulloch, J., and S. Pickering. 2010. Pre-crime, state terror, and dystopia in the twenty-first century. Criminal Justice Matters 81(1): 32–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNulty, T. 2008. Prepare for three 9/11s in one day. Daily Mirror, January 23, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mythen, G. 2004. Ulrich Beck: A critical introduction to the Risk Society. London: Pluto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mythen, G. 2008. Sociology and the art of risk. Sociology Compass 2(1): 299–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mythen, G., and S. Walklate. 2006. Communicating the terrorist risk: Harnessing a culture of fear? Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal 2: 123–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mythen, G., and S. Walklate. 2008. Terrorism, risk and international security: The perils of asking what if? Security Dialogue 39(2–3): 221–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mythen, G., and S. Walklate. 2010. Pre-crime, regulation and counter-terrorism: Interrogating anticipatory risk. Criminal Justice Matters 81(1): 34–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mythen, G., S. Walklate, and F. Khan. 2009. I’m a Muslim but I’m not a terrorist: Victimisation, risky identities and the performance of safety. British Journal of Criminology 49(6): 736–754.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Malley, P. 2008. Experiments in risk and criminal justice. Theoretical Criminology 12(4): 451–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothstein, H. 2003. Neglected risk regulation: The institutional attenuation phenomenon. Health, Risk and Society 5(1): 85–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothstein, H., M. Huber, and G. Gaskell. 2006. A theory of risk colonisation: The spiralling regulatory logics of societal and institutional risk. Economy and Society 35(1): 91–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salter, M. 2008. Conclusion: Risk and imagination in the war on terror. In Risk and the war on terror, ed. L. Amoore and M. de Goede. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slovic, P. 1987. Perception of risk. Science 236(4799): 280–285.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Slovic, P. 2000. Perception of risk. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern, N. 2006. The economics of climate change. London: HM Treasury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strydom, P. 2002. Risk, environment and modernity. Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taleb, N. 2010. The black swan. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor-Gooby, P., and J.O. Zinn. 2006. Risk in social science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thiel, D. 2009. Policing terrorism: A review of the evidence. London: The Police Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Travis, A. 2010. Stop and search powers illegal, European Court rules. The Guardian, January 12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vertigans, S. 2010. British Muslims and the UK government’s ‘war on terror’ within: Evidence of a clash of civilizations or emergent de-civilizing processes? British Journal of Sociology 61(1): 26–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wynne, B. 2002. Risk and environment as legitimatory discourses of technology: Reflexivity inside out. Current Sociology 50(3): 459–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZA, UK

    Gabe Mythen

Authors
  1. Gabe Mythen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabe Mythen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain

    Urbano Fra.Paleo

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mythen, G. (2015). The Problem of Governance in the Risk Society: Envisaging Strategies, Managing Not-knowing. In: Fra.Paleo, U. (eds) Risk Governance. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9328-5_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation