Policy Press

Managing Risk during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Global Policies, Narratives and Practices

By Andy Alaszewski

Published

Apr 9, 2024

Page count

226 pages

ISBN

978-1447365259

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

May 9, 2023

Page count

226 pages

ISBN

978-1447365242

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

May 9, 2023

Page count

226 pages

ISBN

978-1447365266

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

May 9, 2023

Page count

226 pages

ISBN

978-1447365266

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press
Managing Risk during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The past 30 years have seen risk become a major field of study, most recently with the COVID-19 pandemic positioning it at the centre of public awareness, yet there is limited understanding of how risk can and should be used in policy making.

This book provides an accessible guide to the key elements of risk in policy making, including its role in rhetoric to legitimise decisions and choices.

Using risk as a framework, it examines how policy makers in a range of countries responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and explains why some were more successful than others.

Andy Alaszewski is Emeritus Professor at the Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Kent. He is a social scientist who has specialised in the study of health risk and society, and is the Founding Editor of the international journal 'Health, Risk and Society’.

Foreword: Jens Zinn

Preface

1. Introduction: Risk as a Key Feature of Late Modern Societies

Part 1: Responding to the Challenges of the Pandemic

2. Managing Uncertainty: Framing COVID-19

3. The Risks of COVID-19: Probability, Categorisation and Outcomes

4. Communicating Risk: Public Health Messaging

Part 2: Mitigating Risk Through Science and Technology

5. ‘Following the Science’: Expertise and Risk

6. Risk Work To Maintain Services During the Pandemic

Part 3: Risk Narratives

7. Pandemic Narratives: Telling Stories About COVID-19 and Its Risks

8. Contesting Risk: Conspiracy Theories

9. Hindsight: Inquiries and the Blame Game

Part 4: Reflections on the Pandemic and Risk

10. Conclusion: Risk and the Pandemic