Abstract
This chapter aims to introduce the reader to the concept of risk in its widest sense and to demonstrate—through a critical engagement with risk and uncertainty—that ‘looking through a risk lens’ at actors and competing organisational and societal realities, that is, the risk triangle, provides us with a powerful analytical tool to unpack the political of economy of risk. The chapter, therefore, provides both a useful reference point and a framework to reflect on—and to critically evaluate—the contemporary political economy.
Compulsory disclaimer: the analysis, opinions, and conclusions expressed or implied in this chapter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC), the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) or any other government agency.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
See also Giddens (1999).
- 3.
See also Smith (2004: 315).
- 4.
- 5.
See also Beck (1999: 3).
- 6.
For the continued relevance of Knight’s argument, see Nelson and Katzenstein (2014).
- 7.
Arguably, ‘risk as threat’ is conceptually confusing: threats are not risks; threats are risks that have materialised, that is, they exist and they are therefore not a function of the future anymore (Schelhase 2014: 47).
- 8.
Compare Ewald (1991: 199).
- 9.
- 10.
Compare also Knight’s ([1921] 2006: 247–252) discussion of insurance as a means to deal with risk.
- 11.
As a result of a European Court of Justice ruling, in the European Union gender can no longer be used by insurance companies as a criterion to calculate premiums (Insley and Jones 2011).
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
It is important to note here that, for Beck, the result of the dynamics inherent in the risk society is a new cosmopolitanism (Beck 1999).
- 15.
An interesting and relatively early publication in this regard is the report published by the former Strategy Unit in the UK’s Cabinet Office. It acknowledges the ‘risk society thesis’ and sets out a cross-governmental strategy on how to manage risk and uncertainty (Cabinet Office 2002).
- 16.
See, for example, Bessis (2010).
- 17.
It is, in fact, questionable that we could ever manage to amass enough information about, for example, financial markets—and first and foremost, who decides what is considered enough—but also to what extent could all this information actually be used by market actors? For this argument, see Best (2010).
- 18.
See also De Goede (2005: 141–143).
- 19.
- 20.
In relation to the UK housing market, see the Financial Conduct Authority’s Mortgage Market Review (MMR), which came into effect on 26 April 2014 with the overall aim of reforming the mortgage market through tighter regulation, for example, assessing applicants’ lifestyle and spending patterns in detail and stress testing applicants’ budgets against future interest rate rises (see: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/about/what/mmr, accessed 15 March 2018). The anticipated impact of the MMR in terms of damping house price growth so far seems to be very limited, with annual house price inflation in England running at 10.4% (ONS 2015).
- 21.
For Luhmann, the important distinction is that between risk and danger. Risk, in this case, is linked to decision-making, whereas danger is something that we do not relate to our own decisions ([1993] 2002: 23–24).
- 22.
For more details on the ‘help to buy’ scheme see: ‘Help to Buy’ (https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk, accessed 15 March 2018).
- 23.
For the quote, see Nakamoto and Wighton (2007).
- 24.
I am grateful to one of my interviewees for pointing this out to me.
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Schelhase, M. (2019). Risk. In: Shaw, T.M., Mahrenbach, L.C., Modi, R., Yi-chong, X. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy. Palgrave Handbooks in IPE. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45443-0_21
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