Introduction

In contrast to earlier epochs, it seems that contemporary issues are increasingly defined in terms of risk — a framework that is explored in greater detail in Chapter 2. That risk is in danger of becoming a catchall concept formuch of human behavior is illustrated by a spoof claim in a satirical website that an international “consortium of scientists, mathematicians and philosophers is nearing the completion of the ambitious, decade-long project of cataloguing everything that can go wrong” (The Onion, 2005), with the added claim that once the list is completed it will be coded and categorized and that it could have widespread applications. Closer to reality, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2003) has argued for a risk management approach to a wide range of risks that involves interdisciplinary cooperation — a theme revisited in later chapters.