Risk and time: from existential anxiety to post-enlightenment fantasy

Abstract

This editorial examines the conceptual and practical links between risk and time. It recognises that risk analysis may be regarded as both a product of enlightenment thinking, and a candidate for the means to deliver the ultimate enlightenment fantasy: to provide successive generations with a capacity to progressively control the world more effectively. It argues that, despite its significant achievements, risk analysis has fostered romantic fantasies that themselves generate risky futures. The discussion is illustrated with reference to emergency planning, the likelihood of nuclear accidents, long-term nuclear waste disposal and the exotic financial instruments that were implicated in the recent international financial crisis. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.