ABSTRACT
To review the premise of this book, we note that its many contributors explore here in detail the question of whether Europe or the United States adopts a more precautionary stance to the regulation of various potential risks. Some commentators have suggested that Europe is more risk-averse and precautionary, whereas the United States is seen as more risk-taking and optimistic about the prospects for new technology (Levy and Newell 2000). Others suggest that the United States is more precautionary because its regulatory process is more legalistic and adversarial, while Europe is more lax and corporatist in its regulations (Jasanoff 1986, 1998). The flip-flop hypothesis, suggested by Vogel (2001, 2003) and discussed in Chapter 1, asserts that the United States was more precautionary than Europe in the 1970s and early 1980s, but that Europe has become more precautionary since then. A variety of other patterns have also been suggested.
