The Character of Harms: Operational Challenges in Control

ISBN-13: 9780521872102 / Angielski / Twarda / 2008 / 274 str.

Malcolm K Sparrow

Opis

How should we deal with societal ills such as crime, poverty, pollution, terrorism, and corruption? A Harvard professor and former Detective Chief Inspector of the British Police, Malcolm Sparrow argues that control or mitigation of these and other "bad" things involves distinctive patterns of thought and action which turn out to be broadly applicable across a range of human endeavors, and which need to be better understood. In this provocative new book, he demonstrates that an explicit focus on the bads, rather than on the countervailing goods (safety, prosperity, environmental stewardship, etc.) can provide rich opportunities for surgically efficient and effective interventions - an approach which he terms "the sabotage of harms." Drawing from Sparrow's rich background and unique experiences in law enforcement, this book makes a powerful case for this new approach to tackling the complex problems facing society.

Recenzje

'Malcolm Sparrow provides a clear, readable account of approaches to controlling harms, threats and risks in modern society. His skilful combination of academic literatures and practical examples presents a strong argument for evidence based action. In particular his cross domain approach should attract a wide readership ranging as it does from issues of world poverty to harm reduction in individual organizations. It will appeal to academics and practitioners alike.' Professor Bridget Hutter, London School of Economics

Spis treści

List of figures and tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I. The Nature of the Control Task: 1. Which way up, and does it matter?; 2. A different kind of work; 3. Defining problems: setting the scale; 4. Defining problems: picking the dimensions; 5. Patterns of thought and action; 6. Puzzles of measurement; 7. Structures, protocols and interactions; Part II. Special Categories of Harm: 8. Invisible harms; 9. Conscious opponents; 10. Catastrophic harms; 11. Harms in equilibrium; 12. Performance-enhancing risks; Conclusion.