Postgraduate Course: Introduction to Risk, Regulation and Governance (PGSP11395)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | 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. |
| Course description |
Week 1 Introduction to the Concepts of Risk, Risk-Assessment and Uncertainty
Week 2 Understanding Different Models of Risk-Governance and Regulation
Week 3 The Roles of Evidence and Expertise in Managing the Science-Policy
Interface
Week 4 Multi-Level and Networked Regulation and Governance for Emerging Risks
Week 5 Climate Change: A Case Study of a Risk Governance Process
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 30 |
| Course Start |
Block 1 (Sem 1) |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
88 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assessment will be a final essay of 3000 words on a topic to be agreed between the student and the course convenor. This might be a short research paper, literature review, or the application of a risk governance process to a specific "risk issue" identified by the student. The assessment may focus on a particular week's topic, or it may cover a broad range of issues covered throughout the course. Students should contact the course convenor to discuss potential assessment topics at the earliest opportunity. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- . 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.
- 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.
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Reading List
The required readings are directly tied to each week's key objectives and learning outcomes. It is essential that they are read closely and all students will be expected to contribute to discussions around these readings. Additional readings are listed, where appropriate, to provide a broader overview of the topic and will be useful for further reflection and for the assessed coursework.
Week 1
Required Readings
Ulrich Beck Risk Society Summary (pdf to be provided)
Goldacre et al (2013) 'Bicycle Helmets and the Law', BMJ, 12 June 2013
Kasperson, R., O. Renn , P. Slovic , H. Brown , J. Emel , Robert Goble, J. Kasperson, S. Ratick (1988), 'The Social Amplification of Risk: A Conceptual Framework', Risk Analysis, 8(2): 177-87.
Mittra, J. (2007) 'Predictive Genetic Information and Access to Life Assurance: The Poverty of Genetic Exceptionalism', Biosocieties, 2 (3), pp. 349-373
Further Readings
Beck, U. (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, Ritter, M. (trs), London, Sage
Dingwall, R. (1999) '"Risk Society": The Cult of Theory and the Millennium?', Social Policy and Administration, vol. 33 no. 4, pp. 474-491
Bernstein, P. (1996), Against the Gods: The remarkable story of risk, New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Douglas, M. (1994), Risk and Blame: Essays in cultural theory, paperback edition, London: Routledge.
Engel, U. and H. Strasser (1998), 'Global Risks and Social Inequality: Critical remarks on the risk-society hypothesis', Canadian Journal of Sociology, 23: 91-103.
Garland, D. (2003), 'The Rise of Risk', pp. 48-86 in R.V. Ericson and A. Doyle (eds), Risk and Morality, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Giddens, A. (1999), 'Risk and Responsibility', 62 Modern Law Review 1.
Giddens, A. (2002) Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping Our Lives, London, Profile
Hacking, I. (1990), The Taming of Chance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Week 2
Required Readings
IRGC (2008) An introduction to the risk governance framework, IRGC, Geneva.
Karinen, R. & D.H.Guston, 'Towards Anticipatory Governance: The Experience with Nanotechnology', in Assessment Regimes of Technology
Klinke, A. & O. Renn (2011) 'Adaptive and Integrative Governance on Risk and Uncertainty', Journal of Risk Research, 15 (3), pp. 273-292
Further Readings
Hilgartner, S., N. Nelson and A. Geltzer (2008), 'The Anticipatory State: Making Policy-Relevant Knowledge about the Future', Science and Public Policy, 8(8): 546-606.
IRGC (2009) Risk Governance Deficits: An Analysis and Illustration of the most Common Deficits in Risk Governance, International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) Report 2009
Jasanoff, S. (2004). 'Ordering knowledge, ordering society'. In States of knowledge: The coproduction of science and social order, ed. S. Jasanoff, 13-45. London: Routledge.
Philbrick, M. (2010), 'An Anticipatory Governance Approach to Carbon Nanotubes', Risk Analysis, 30 (11), pp. 1708-1722
Renn, O. (2008) Risk Governance: Coping with Uncertainty in a Complex World, Earthscan, Risk in Society Series
Williams, R. (2006) 'Compressed Foresight and Narrative Bias: Pitfalls in Assessing High Technology Futures', Science as Culture, 15 (4), pp. 327-348
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
Week 3
Required Readings
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 (You should at the very least read pages 249-265 on expertise.)
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
Shaxson, L (2005), "Is Your Evidence Robust Enough? Questions for Policy Makers and Practitioners", Evidence & Policy, 1(1), pages 101-111.
Further Readings
De Marchi, B. & Ravetz, R. (1999) Risk management and governance: a post-normal science approach, Futures, 31, 743-757.
Faulkner, W. (1998), 'Knowledge Flows in Innovation', pp.173-95 in R. Williams, W. Faulkner and J. Fleck (eds), Exploring Expertise, London: Macmillan Press.
Freudenburg, W.R. (1988), 'Perceived Risk, Real Risk: Social science and the art of probabilistic risk assessment', Science, 242: 44 - 49.
OECD (2003) Emerging Risks in the 21st Century: An Agenda for Action, http://www.oecd.org/sti/futures/globalprospects/37944611.pdf
Rutgers, M R & M A Mentzel (1999), "Scientific Expertise and Public Policy: Regulating Paradoxes", Science and Public Policy, 26 (3), pages 146-161
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
Karin Bäckstrand & Eva Lövbrand (2006) "Planting Trees to Mitigate Climate Change. Contested Discourses of Ecological Modernization, Green Governmentality and Civic Environmentalism", Global Environmental Politics Vol 6, No. 1, pp. 51-71.
Karin Bäckstrand & Eva Lövbrand, "Contested Climate: Competing Discourses of Planetary Management, Market Efficiency and Ecological Justice" in Mary Pettenger (ed.) The Social Construction of Climate Change, London: Ashgate
Week 4
Required Readings
Cliff, D. (2010) 'Networked Governance in the Global Financial Markets' http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/home/dc/Foresight_NetGov_v2a.pdf
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.
Mackenzie, D. (2009) 'Beneath all the toxic acronyms lies a basic cultural issue', Financial Times, Thursday November 26th, 2009
Further Readings
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.
Mackenzie, D. (2011) 'The Credit Crisis as a Problem in the Sociology of Knowledge', American Journal of Sociology, 116 (6), pp. 1178-1841
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
Rhodes, R. A. W. (1997) 'Understanding Governance: policy networks, governance, reflexivity and accountability', Buckingham, Open University Press.
Week 5
Required Reading
RiskBridge Report, SAS6-CT-2006-036661, Chapter 3, 'Climate Change', pp. 32-70 (http://www.genomicsnetwork.ac.uk/media/Riskbridge%20Final%20Report%202009.pdf)
Webb, J. (2011) 'Making Climate Change Governable: the Case of the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment and Adaptation Panning', Science and Public Policy, 38 (4), pp. 279-292
Further Readings
Bulkeley, H. (2001) 'Governing climate change: the politics of risk society?' Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 26, 430-447
Karin Bäckstrand (2002) 'Precaution, Scientisation or Deliberation: Greening Environmental Decision-Making', paper presented at ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, Turin, March 22-27
Karin Bäckstrand & Eva Lövbrand, "Contested Climate: Competing Discourses of Planetary Management, Market Efficiency and Ecological Justice" in Mary Pettenger (ed.) The Social Construction of Climate Change, London: Ashgate
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr James Mittra
Tel: (0131 6)50 2453
Email: james.mittra@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Kate Ferguson
Tel: (0131 6)51 5122
Email: kate.ferguson@ed.ac.uk |
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