This book takes as its analytical focus the notion of anticipation, more precisely the anticipation of risks and how the concerns they generate influence the way we organise our policy systems. There seems to be a contemporary obsession with anticipating risks, acting to prevent them and having in place plans to manage risk events should they occur. Private and public sector organisations increasingly devote resources to risk prevention and contingency planning. And typically there is much criticism if events are not adequately predicted however unrealistic such predictions may be in reality. Social theorists see this trend as an inherent part of modern social and organisational life, some relating it to fundamental social changes and others relating it to new forms of governance and organisation. Certainly anticipating risks and organising for their control is an integral part of risk regulation regimes which have long been associated as much with their proactive as their reactive activities.

This book explores current dilemmas in anticipating risks and organising risk regulation for their mitigation. A key debate focuses on the value of anticipatory strategies and their impact on innovation and resilience. The chapters consider the importance of anticipation in framing risk regulation debates and policies in the public and private sectors. They consider whether or not concerns about anticipation are new, distinctively ‘modern’ considerations as risk society theories suggest. They also have different views about how extensive or inevitable anticipatory perspectives are.