ABSTRACT

This chapter examines variety in government responses to risk, by comparing various government and regulator responses to Year 200 (Y2K) within aviation. The aviation risk regulation regime's reaction to Y2K can be attributed to a safety-conscious industry, the obscure nature of the Y2K bug and a complex technological environment. Each of the three critical elements in 'risk regulation regime content' is characterised further through the three elements of a cybernetic control system: information gathering; standard setting and behaviour modification. Hood et al. argue that the literature on risk and its management has sought to explain trends from a macroscopic or world historical perspective. Thier framework uses several hypotheses to explain risk regulation. The first, the Opinion Responsive Hypothesis, examines the extent to which risk regulation responds to the preferences of civil society. The second, the Interests Hypothesis, examines the role of organised groups in shaping the manner in which a risk is regulated in the industry.