Governing Terrorism Through Risk: Taking Precautions, (un)Knowing the Future:
Claudia Aradau,Rens van Munster +1 more
TL;DR: The authors argue that the risk society thesis problematically views risk within a macro-sociological narrative of modernity, and that governing terrorism through risk involves a permanent adjustment of traditional forms of risk management in light of the double infinity of catastrophic consequences and the incalculability of the risk of terrorism.
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Abstract: The events of 9/11 appeared to make good on Ulrich Beck's claim that we are now living in a (global) risk society. Examining what it means to ‘govern through risk’, this article departs from Beck's thesis of risk society and its appropriation in security studies. Arguing that the risk society thesis problematically views risk within a macro-sociological narrative of modernity, this article shows, based on a Foucauldian account of governmentality, that governing terrorism through risk involves a permanent adjustment of traditional forms of risk management in light of the double infinity of catastrophic consequences and the incalculability of the risk of terrorism. Deploying the Foucauldian notion of ‘dispositif’, this article explores precautionary risk and risk analysis as conceptual tools that can shed light on the heterogeneous practices that are defined as the ‘war on terror’.
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References
World Risk Society and War Against Terror
TL;DR: This article interpreted the war against terrorism as a projection of world risk society, and argued that despite its global character, war against terror is constructed through outmoded vocabularies of national security and sovereignty, within which the reasoned negotiation of risk is marginalized.
48
Governable catastrophes: a comment on Bougen
TL;DR: Bougen's analysis of catastrophe insurance has considerable and damaging implications for the 'risk society' thesis as discussed by the authors, and it outlines how insurance 'imaginaries' render even catastrophic and 'incalculable' modernization risks insurable.
35
Neoliberalism by other means: the “war on terror” at home and abroad
TL;DR: The authors argue that both the foreign and domestic policy pursued by the Bush administration under the rubric of the war on terror are in fact best understood as strategies for advancing the neoliberal agenda, in large part by seeking to undo gains made by the labor movement during the 1990s.
24
Liability and Insurance After September 11: Embracing Risk Meets the Precautionary Principle
TL;DR: In this paper, Baker and Simon argue that the United States is engaged in a transformation from a dominant paradigm of spreading risks to a paradigm that involves embracing risk, and they suggest that part of the answer to some looming 21st century insurance problems is to resurrect two distinctly 19th century ideas: the assessment approach to insurance and the concept of insurance regulation as an antidote to destructive competition.
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