ABSTRACT
Risks are usually communicated to the public in order that potential future dangers can be averted through responsible public action, and the present chapter explores this important function of risk communication in three main ways. First, it presents and discusses relevant theories from risk management literature and responsibilisation theorised as a political technique of risk governance in governmentality literature, where values play a central role. It then considers ethical theories of responsibility and forward-looking responsibilisation, and how values are integrated in conceptualisations of responsible futures. It concludes by presenting a framework for identifying responsibilisation in texts that draws on the theories presented in this chapter that will be applied to the analyses conducted in the next two chapters.
