Emergency Regulation under the Threat of a Catastrophe: a Hard Look at the Volcanic Ash Crisis will be a two-day workshop at HEC Paris, Nov. 10-11, 2010. Abstracts are due Sept. 15, 2010. A selection of papers will be published in the European Journal of Risk Regulation.
The recent Iceland volcanic ash crisis epitomizes the general problem of emergency response in a world of uncertain manufactured and natural risks. A cloud of volcanic ash preventing travelling across an entire continent probably did not feature in the risk-management scenarios of many firms. No surprise that the immediate and drastic regulatory response which followed soon became an uneven political dispute between industry economic power and regulatory science, with consumers caught in the middle. Regulatory systems designed for careful deliberation and cooperative action had to respond almost instantly to a barrage of data arguments and conflicting legal interpretations, with threats of litigation on one side and the risk of loss of human life on the other.
There will be no cost for presenters to attend the workshop. Both their accommodation and reasonable travelling costs will be covered. mw
