The EU as Risk Community

Risk and uncertainty are defining concepts of modern societies. Climate change, terrorism, food security and the international financial crisis – governing and regulating these risks and addressing the uncertainties they create for individuals and nation-states is a key concern for political action. Against this background the King's College in London invited scholars who work on the societal and political management of risks to participate at the workshop "Varieties of risk research: exploring and expanding boundaries within academia and beyond".

In the panel on "Institutions of Risk", C·A·P research fellows, Michael Bauer and Florian Baumann, presented their paper "The European Union as a Risk Community. Outline for an Empirical Research Program". The paper follows up on research on the European Union and its role as a framework for risk governance, previously done by the researchers together with their colleague Thomas Bauer. It develops a theoretical framework of risk and politics and applies it on the European Union. As case studies, the paper analyses the EU's role in counter-terrorism efforts and measures to increase energy security.