Postgraduate Course: Risk, Regulation and Governance I (PGSP11336)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 10 |
| Home subject area | Postgrad (School of Social and Political Studies) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Risk governance and regulation is a fundamental component of virtually all scientific and technological fields, whilst also being intrinsic to a variety of social and economic processes.
The International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) defines risk governance as ¿the identification, assessment, management, and communication of risks in a broad context. It includes the totality of actors, rules, conventions, processes, and mechanisms concerned with how relevant risk information is collected, analysed, and communicated; and how and by whom management decisions are taken and implemented.¿ There are many approaches to risk governance and regulation, which largely reflects the different levels of risk, uncertainty and potential benefits of specific types of science, technology or socio-economic activity within or across a diverse range of sectors or ¿risk fields¿.
The application of any new technology, process or industry must have a carefully considered process of risk governance to mitigate risk of harm, and ideally in a way that does not hinder innovation. This introductory course on key concepts of risk governance and regulation is both a key component of the MSc BIG Programme, but will also appeal to students with more general interests in science, technology, management, policymaking and governance seeking a general introduction to the basic concepts, theory and practice of risk, governance and regulation. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| Central | Lecture | Seminar Room 5, Chrystal Macmillan Building | 1-11 | | | | | 10:00 - 12:00 |
| First Class |
Week 1, Friday, 10:00 - 12:00, Zone: Central. Seminar Room 5, Chrystal Macmillan Building |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. The main aim of this course is to introduce students to the key concepts and practices surrounding risk-governance and regulation processes as they can be applied to a range of industries, technological sectors, and socio-economic issues, as well as enable students to begin characterising and applying different models of good risk governance in different contexts. The course will provide a generic introduction to the key concepts, theories and approaches to risk assessment, governance and regulation (including anticipatory risk governance, integrative risk governance, and risk-benefit analysis) and also explore the issue of how to manage emerging and complex risks; for example in the context of changing insurance practices.
Students will be introduced to the challenges and bottlenecks in different types of risk-governance processes, as well as key theoretical, conceptual and empirical evidence through which to examine systemic issues around risk and uncertainty. Key issues will include state of the art in risk governance processes; risk framing in specific risk fields; distribution of risks and benefits; planning for uncertainty and surprise; and management of the science-policy interface, as well as the role of expertise and evidence in these governance processes. The complex interactions between regulation and innovation, and the extent to which the former often shapes the latter, will emerge throughout this course, as will the broader role of stakeholders and publics in governance processes.
2. By the end of this course students will:
¿ Understand the key, generic theoretical concepts in risk, governance and regulation and implications for innovation processes.
¿ Be able to characterise different models of risk-governance and begin to apply them to a range of different sectors.
¿ Be able to critically analyse and evaluate the divers and complex roles different stakeholder groups and publics can play in risk governance and regulation processes.
¿ Have a theoretically based understanding of the role of evidence and expertise in decision-making around risk governance and regulation. |
Assessment Information
| Assessment will be a final essay of 2000 words on a topic to be agreed between the student and the course convener. This might be a conventional research paper, literature review, or the application of a risk governance process to a specific ¿risk issue.¿ |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
WEEK TOPIC
1 Risk and uncertainty as governance problems for modern governments
2 Evidence, expertise, authority and decision making in risk governance
3 Regulatory systems
4 Networked governance
5 Risk, regulation and governance and democratic ideals |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Beck, U. (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, Ritter, M. (trs), London, Sage
Bulkeley, H. (2001) ¿Governing climate change: the politics of risk society?¿ Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 26, 430-447
Collins, H M and Evans, R J (2002) ¿The Third Wave of Science Studies: Studies of Expertise and Experience¿, Social Studies of Sciences, 32 (2): 235-96
De Marchi, B. & Ravetz, R. (1999) Risk management and governance: a post-normal science approach, Futures, 31, 743-757.
Guy Peters, B. & Pierre, J. (2004) Multi-level governance and democracy: a Faustian bargain? IN Bache I. & Flinders, M. (Eds.) Multi-level governance. Oxford, Oxford University Press
IRGC (2008) An introduction to the risk governance framework, IRGC, Geneva.
IRGC (2009) Risk Governance Deficits: An Analysis and Illustration of the most Common Deficits in Risk Governance, International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) Report 2009
http://www.genomicsnetwork.ac.uk/media/IRGC%20Report%20on%20Risk%20Governance%20Deficits.pdf
Jessop, B. (1995) ¿The regulation approach, governance and postfordism: alternative perspectives on economic and political change¿ Economy and Society, 24, 307-333.
Lyall, C. (2007), ¿Changing boundaries: the role of policy networks in the multi-level governance of science and innovation¿, Science and Public Policy, 34/1, 3-14.
Mittra, J. (2007) ¿Predictive Genetic Information and Access to Life Assurance: The Poverty of Genetic Exceptionalism¿, Biosocieties, 2 (3), pp. 349-373
Mittra, J. (2006) ¿Genetic Exceptionalism and Precautionary Politics: Regulating for Uncertainty in Britain's Genetics and Insurance Policy Process', Science and Public Policy, 33 (8) pp. 585-600
McQuaid, J. (2005) ¿Developing an Integrated Approach to Risk: The ILGRA Network¿, in C. Lyall & J. Tait (eds) New Modes of Governance, Ashgate, London, pp. 89-107
Renn, O. (2008) Risk Governance: Coping with Uncertainty in a Complex World, Earthscan, Risk in Society Series
Rhodes, R. A. W. (1997) ¿Understanding Governance: policy networks, governance, reflexivity and accountability¿, Buckingham, Open University Press.
Rutgers, M R & M A Mentzel (1999), ¿Scientific Expertise and Public Policy: Regulating Paradoxes¿, Science and Public Policy, 26 (3), pages 146-161
Shaxson, L (2005), ¿¿Is Your Evidence Robust Enough? Questions for Policy Makers and Practitioners¿, Evidence & Policy, 1(1), pages 101-111.
Tenbensel, T (2004), ¿Does more Evidence Lead to Better Policy? The implications of Explicit Priority-Setting in New Zealand¿s Health Policy for Evidence-Based Policy¿, Policy Studies, 25(3), pages 189-207.
Weingart, P (1999), ¿Scientific Expertise and Political Accountability: Paradoxes of Science in Politics¿, Science and Public Policy, 26 (3), pages 151-161 |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
The course will be delivered through a 5 week lecture and seminar discussion format. The two-hour sessions will typically consist of a short lecture (introducing the key themes of the week¿s topic and the core readings provided), followed by an hour and a quarter of classroom discussion, student-led presentations, and case study work. Each week¿s class will typically cover conceptual, theoretical and empirical material related to the topic. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr James Mittra
Tel: (0131 6)50 2453
Email: james.mittra@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lindsay Hunter
Tel: (0131 6)51 1659
Email: L.Hunter@ed.ac.uk |
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