ABSTRACT
As I read the four chapters in this part I was transported back to a news
story in May of 1996 about the crash of the ValuJet airliner in the Ever-
glades just outside Miami. It occurred to me in retrospect that this was a
watershed moment, a public debut of neoliberal governance and disasters-
by-default through the kind of stealth planning that Prudham describes – in
Gu¨nter Grass’ words – as ‘‘planned irresponsibility’’. The proximate cause
of the ValuJet crash, and the deaths of 110 people, was an explosion of
illegal hazardous cargo (used and partially full oxygen canisters) in a passenger plane. The subsequent investigation and discussions of accountability
and blame revolved around the practice and alibi of ‘‘out-sourcing’’.
