Risk & Policy: The relevance and influence of Aaron Wildavsky’s book Searching for Safety in the safety discourse.

Abstract: The main finding of this thesis is that the relevance and influence of Aaron Wildavsky’s book Searching for Safety in today’s safety discourse is limited although Wildavsky may be considered to be the linking pin between RE, HRO and NAT. The safety discourse may benefit from Wildavsky’s work in political science: I.e., dealing with social power within organizations, the use of net benefit in risk assessment and resilience as a means to determine the economics of safety in the global safety debate. The research further shows that, 45 years after publication of the book, the key message of the book is still, and has even become more, relevant in this modern Western society. Hereby considering the complexity and interconnectedness, the ongoing application of the precautionary principle, the demise of neo-liberalism and neo conservatism and imminent societal changes.