Ragnar E. Lofstedt – författare

This edited volume looks at whether it is possible to be more transparent about uncertainty in scientific evidence without undermining public understanding and trust.

With contributions from leading experts in the field, this book explores the communication of risk and decision-making in an increasingly post-truth world. Drawing on case studies from climate change to genetic testing, the authors argue for better quality evidence synthesis to cut through the noise and highlight the need for more structured public dialogue. For uncertainty in scientific evidence to be communicated effectively, they conclude that trustworthiness is vital: the data and methods underlying statistics must be transparent, valid, and sound, and the numbers need to demonstrate practical utility and add social value to people’s lives.

Presenting a conceptual framework to help navigate the reader through the key social and scientific challenges of a post-truth era, this book will be of great relevance to students, scholars, and policy makers with an interest in risk analysis and communication.

This edited volume looks at whether it is possible to be more transparent about uncertainty in scientific evidence without undermining public understanding and trust.

With contributions from leading experts in the field, this book explores the communication of risk and decision-making in an increasingly post-truth world. Drawing on case studies from climate change to genetic testing, the authors argue for better quality evidence synthesis to cut through the noise and highlight the need for more structured public dialogue. For uncertainty in scientific evidence to be communicated effectively, they conclude that trustworthiness is vital: the data and methods underlying statistics must be transparent, valid, and sound, and the numbers need to demonstrate practical utility and add social value to people’s lives.

Presenting a conceptual framework to help navigate the reader through the key social and scientific challenges of a post-truth era, this book will be of great relevance to students, scholars, and policy makers with an interest in risk analysis and communication.

Social trust is a crucial issue to many aspects of modern society. Policy makers continually aspire to winning it and corporations frequently run the risk of losing it. The ''trust deficit'' raises vital questions and problems to which until recently there have been few answers or solutions.

Experts from both sides of the Atlantic explore the importance for trust of various influences, from individual perceptions to organizational systems, and consider the conditions involved in building or undermining trust. Several authors examine practical hazard management issues, including medical vaccination programmes and popular participation in pollution control and waste management as strategies for enhancing social trust.

This book provides insightful analysis for researchers and students of environmental and social sciences and is essential reading for those engaged in risk management in both the public and private sectors.

Social trust is a crucial issue to many aspects of modern society. Policy makers continually aspire to winning it and corporations frequently run the risk of losing it. The ''trust deficit'' raises vital questions and problems to which until recently there have been few answers or solutions.

Experts from both sides of the Atlantic explore the importance for trust of various influences, from individual perceptions to organizational systems, and consider the conditions involved in building or undermining trust. Several authors examine practical hazard management issues, including medical vaccination programmes and popular participation in pollution control and waste management as strategies for enhancing social trust.

This book provides insightful analysis for researchers and students of environmental and social sciences and is essential reading for those engaged in risk management in both the public and private sectors.

There is an increasing dissatisfaction about how risk is regulated, leading to vivid debates about the use of ''risk assessment'' and ''precaution''. As a result, academics, government officials and industry leaders are calling for new approaches and fresh ideas. This book provides a historical and topical perspective on the alternative concept of ''Tolerability of Risk'' and its concrete regulatory applications.

In the UK, Tolerability of Risk has been developed into a sophisticated framework, particularly within the health and safety sectors. It is expected to guide decision-makers when applying their legal obligation of keeping risks as low as practically reasonable. Could Tolerability of Risk become a wider source of inspiration across the full scope of risk analysis and management?

Written by leading academics and risk practitioners from industry and government, The Tolerability of Risk presents a summary of theoretical perspectives on risk approaches, providing a detailed elicitation of the methods and approaches used to build the Tolerability of Risk framework and examining the prospect of universal application of that framework. From nuclear power to environmental pollution, climate change and drug testing, the Tolerability of Risk framework may offer a workable, pragmatic solution for balancing risks against the costs involved in controlling them, as well as developing the institutional capacity to make effective decisions in all jurisdictions worldwide.

A thought-provoking and invaluable book for anyone who cares about risk communication and management in the 21st centuryAnna Jung, Director General, European Food Information Council

Professor Ragnar Löfstedt has once again produced a most interesting book on risk management and trust, well-based on theory and built on empirical findingsMikael Karlsson, President, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation

Highlights the difficult balancing task facing risk regulators. Regulatory inaction against real risks can undermine public trust. However, exaggerated responses to risks can also jeopardize regulators’ credibility. The diverse international case studies developed by Ragnar Löfstedt provide guidance for how regulators can navigate these and other frequently competing concernsW. Kip Viscusi, Cogan Professor of Law and Economics, Harvard University, USA

In democracies, government policies cannot succeed without public acceptance. Yet complex risk management requires technical expertise. How to reconcile these competing needs? Ragnar Löfstedt provocatively challenges recent research claiming that risk managers must engender public trust via deliberative dialogue. He uses four case studies to argue that the reasons for distrust vary and demand different responses; that in some cases trust can flow from technical competence without public deliberation; and that in others public deliberation can actually aggravate distrust. Trust me: Löfstedt’s book will add spice to the debate over risk, experts, the public, and trustJonathan B. Wiener, Perkins Professor of Law and Environmental Policy, Duke University, USA

We live in “post-trust” societies, in which public confidence in governments and corporations over health, food, and environmental risk is eroding rapidly. Good risk communication can help companies, governments, and institutions minimize disputes, resolve issues, and anticipate problems. Without such communication, the best policies can become derailed and trust can be lost. Most policymakers still use outdated methods to communicate policies and achieve their objectives—methods developed before public trust in industry and government was affected by health scares such as BSE, genetically modified organisms, and dioxins in Belgian chicken. This book provides effective methods for managing and communicating risk effectively in contemporary societies.

A thought-provoking and invaluable book for anyone who cares about risk communication and management in the 21st centuryAnna Jung, Director General, European Food Information Council

Professor Ragnar Löfstedt has once again produced a most interesting book on risk management and trust, well-based on theory and built on empirical findingsMikael Karlsson, President, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation

Highlights the difficult balancing task facing risk regulators. Regulatory inaction against real risks can undermine public trust. However, exaggerated responses to risks can also jeopardize regulators’ credibility. The diverse international case studies developed by Ragnar Löfstedt provide guidance for how regulators can navigate these and other frequently competing concernsW. Kip Viscusi, Cogan Professor of Law and Economics, Harvard University, USA

In democracies, government policies cannot succeed without public acceptance. Yet complex risk management requires technical expertise. How to reconcile these competing needs? Ragnar Löfstedt provocatively challenges recent research claiming that risk managers must engender public trust via deliberative dialogue. He uses four case studies to argue that the reasons for distrust vary and demand different responses; that in some cases trust can flow from technical competence without public deliberation; and that in others public deliberation can actually aggravate distrust. Trust me: Löfstedt’s book will add spice to the debate over risk, experts, the public, and trustJonathan B. Wiener, Perkins Professor of Law and Environmental Policy, Duke University, USA

We live in “post-trust” societies, in which public confidence in governments and corporations over health, food, and environmental risk is eroding rapidly. Good risk communication can help companies, governments, and institutions minimize disputes, resolve issues, and anticipate problems. Without such communication, the best policies can become derailed and trust can be lost. Most policymakers still use outdated methods to communicate policies and achieve their objectives—methods developed before public trust in industry and government was affected by health scares such as BSE, genetically modified organisms, and dioxins in Belgian chicken. This book provides effective methods for managing and communicating risk effectively in contemporary societies.

From dams to landfill sites, and power plants to radioactive waste repositories, the siting of facilities is a veritable minefield of conflicts involving industry, planners, authorities, NGOs and citizens. This penetrating volume examines risk, power and identity in contests over the siting of infrastructure and industrial facilities. Going beyond nimby-ism, experts in a variety of fields bring a multiperspective analysis from science, law and media to case studies from the UK, USA and Europe, and expose the political and cultural dimensions of siting conflicts. In the process they show how place attachment and notions of landscape and local identity play a prominent role in resistance to ''development''.

Topics covered include the importance of context in siting controversies, siting methods and social representation, siting conflicts, the importance of institutional thinking in facility siting, risk, industrial encroachment and the sense of place, siting and sacred places, and law and fairness.

This book is essential reading for academics in social sciences, policy, planning, law and risk; policy makers, planners and decision makers at all levels of government; business and industry, particularly energy generation, including nuclear and renewables, transportation and large dams; risk assessment professionals; and NGOs and activists.

From dams to landfill sites, and power plants to radioactive waste repositories, the siting of facilities is a veritable minefield of conflicts involving industry, planners, authorities, NGOs and citizens. This penetrating volume examines risk, power and identity in contests over the siting of infrastructure and industrial facilities. Going beyond nimby-ism, experts in a variety of fields bring a multiperspective analysis from science, law and media to case studies from the UK, USA and Europe, and expose the political and cultural dimensions of siting conflicts. In the process they show how place attachment and notions of landscape and local identity play a prominent role in resistance to ''development''.

Topics covered include the importance of context in siting controversies, siting methods and social representation, siting conflicts, the importance of institutional thinking in facility siting, risk, industrial encroachment and the sense of place, siting and sacred places, and law and fairness.

This book is essential reading for academics in social sciences, policy, planning, law and risk; policy makers, planners and decision makers at all levels of government; business and industry, particularly energy generation, including nuclear and renewables, transportation and large dams; risk assessment professionals; and NGOs and activists.