Craig McLean

The management of risk in foreign and defence policy: the precautionary principle and decisions on war

This article develops a concept that originated in environmental risk decision making, and investigates whether the Precautionary Principle (PP) may be usefully deployed by policymakers in the realm of foreign and defence matters. Drawing on the literature on precaution in the environmental arena, and in its weaker form, we develop an operational model of the PP, which has four main characteristics: an acceptance of the limits of knowledge on a given issue; an openness to alternative solutions; proportionality of response; and reversing the onus of proof. It concludes that the Precautionary Principle is a more inclusive way of deliberating on decisions on war, and the model we propose might provide a useful guideline for policy-makers in todays uncertain world.

Misleading and dangerous: the use of the precautionary principle in foreign policy debates.

Recent scholarly research has suggested that the Bush Administration embraced the Precautionary Principle (PP) to formulate its policy on Iraq before the coalition invasion in 2003. The article below challenges this argument. Demonstrating the Bush Administrations antipathy – and at times hostility – to the PP in environmental politics, the article outlines the similarities and differences between usage of the PP in foreign policy debates on the one hand, and the established risk strategies of pre-emption and prevention on the other. The article examines the Bush Administrations reaction to Saddams alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programme by drawing on earlier conceptual work of the PP in international affairs: an acceptance of the limits of the usefulness of intelligence assessments; an openness to alternative solutions; proportionality of response; and reversing the onus of persuasion. Based on these four strands the article argues that the Bush Administrations decision to invade Iraq was based less on the PP and more on the idea of fighting a preventive war.

Risk Assessment, Policy-Making and the Limits of Knowledge: The Precautionary Principle and International Relations

This paper looks at the way in which the idea of the Precautionary Principle, increasingly influential in environmental and other policy areas, is being and might be used in foreign and security policy. It aims to contrast the relative precision with which the term is used in the environmental arena with the current usage in international relations. Contrasting the Precautionary Principle with ideas of precaution, prevention, pre-emption and similar terms in post-structuralist analyses of risk, humanitarian intervention and US foreign policy in the aftermath of 11 September 2001, the paper identifies costs and benefits in deploying a more carefully specified account of the Precautionary Principle. In particular, it highlights key issues of regulatory authority and the way in which policy-makers and analysts understand and respond to the limits of knowledge and knowledge systems as important challenges to which careful use of the Precautionary Principle can potentially contribute. The paper concludes by suggesting that both policy-making and policy analysis could potentially be improved by adapting and extending the idea of the Precautionary Principle as it is deployed in other policy arenas.

The Challenges of Information and Communication Technologies for Transnational Efforts at Homeland Security Education

The dawn of the 21st century brought with it recognition of the challenge presented by terrorism. To address this challenge, there has been an invigoration of national and multinational security efforts. The academic communities across the Atlantic have taken notice of the need for research and instruction in a Homeland Security (HS) based curriculum. U.S. universities have largely developed entire HS academic programs, but this has not been replicated in the European Union (EU). This article analyzes aspects of HS education provision in the United States and EU and examines the impact of new information and communication technologies upon HS programs.

Transnational & Comparative Curricular Offerings in U.S. Post-Baccalaureate Programs: Benchmarking a Link from the U.S. to the EU in Homeland Security Education

It is vital that U.S. academic institutions pay heed to the important global challenges that HS academics and practitioners must face. This article finds in an overview of the development of prescriptions for curricular outcomes and competencies for homeland security education in the U.S. that there has been little emphasis on curricular goals in the U.S. of the transnational and global application of homeland security strategies and operations. Transatlantic links in homeland security education between U.S. universities and their counterparts in Europe will be hampered by the virtual lack of explicit academic programs in this field in that continent. An examination of program goals and curricular offerings in U.S. post-baccalaureate programs indicates a modest attempt to provide students some grounding in transnational and global applications of homeland security strategies and operations.