Critical Risk Research
Practices, Politics and Ethics
Edited by: Matthew B. Kearnes, Francisco R. Klauser, Stuart N. Lane
Published: May 1, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 0470974877
ISBN-13: 978-0470974872
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
"Our presumption is not that risk research is inherently uncritical. Rather, we argue that the intellectual foundations of contemporary risk research need more critical attention", write international researchers in risk research, Matthew B. Kearnes, Francisco R. Klauser, and Stuart N. Lane, editors of the comprehensive and interdisciplinary book Critical Risk Research: Practices, Politics and Ethics. The authors present a series of essays, written by distinguished international experts, that address the fundamental questions of what is risk and how do people relate to it; how are those risks framed, approached, and studied; and what do people know and do about and in the name of risk.
Matthew B. Kearnes, Francisco R. Klauser, and Stuart N. Lane provide essays that takes as its basic premise that to approach and address risk, people must look beyond the usual practices and assumptions. Through the lenses of scientific, economic, and social studies, the essays challenge the current practices, the usual framing, and standard approaches to risk and risk management. The editors offer essays that demonstrate the importance of risks and risk research to the contemporary political process and public awareness. With the focus on risk, risk research, and research analysis in light of current events, risk research is now a critical component of modern policy making efforts.
Matthew B. Kearnes, Francisco R. Klauser, and Stuart N. Lane recognize risk management as an subject for critical study and for renewed debate in the face of constant challenges. Not only does risk research concern itself and its practitioners with natural disasters, but also with urgent new challenges from human created sources. The response to risk and real disaster has ranged from effective to other additional failures in practice.
To address these growing and ever increasing risk research factors, the editors group the contributions into three overall sections. Those three sections ars:
* Practices in risk research
* Politics in risk research
* Ethics in risk research
For me, the power of the book is how Matthew B. Kearnes, Francisco R. Klauser, and Stuart N. Lane provide a collection of academic essays that provide an overview of the practices, politics, and ethics of risk, risk research, and risk management. The editors go beyond the usual studies that focus on the process of managing risk, after the fact, and include the crucial human elements of politics and ethics. With a renewed societal interest in ethics, this book is especially timely, with the inclusion of an important section on ethics.
The contributed essays are well researched, accessible, and completely annotated for additional research and study. The editors succeed in presenting alternative viewpoints that openly challenge the usual procedures and processes of risk, and open up discussion to fresh debate, policy, and actions.
I highly recommend the essential reference book Critical Risk Research: Practices, Politics and Ethics edited by Matthew B. Kearnes, Francisco R. Klauser, and Stuart N. Lane, to any academic researchers, students, business leaders, non-profit organizations, policy makers and analysts, and elected officials at all levels of government, who are seeking a useful overview of the crucial elements of contemporary risk research. This book is an excellent reference for any discussion and debate for finding a new direction for meeting the challenges facing modern risk research.
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