As the Navigating Uncertainty book shows, the politics of risk are centred on calculative, technocratic control, where we assume we can predict, model and manage. A politics of uncertainty by contrast is all about socially embedded, networked learning, flexibility, adaptation, … Continue reading → …
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ZimbabweLand
Adapting to climate change: co-constructing solutions on the ground
We know climate change is happening, but it’s uncertain as to how the impacts will play out, to what extent, where, affecting whom. In the sixth chapter of Navigating Uncertainty: Radical Rethinking for a Turbulent World, I again look at … Continue reading → …
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Taking uncertainty seriously in disaster preparedness and response
The news is full of disasters: droughts, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, chemical spills and more. They are more frequent, and their scale of impact is growing according to UN reports. A whole industry focused on disaster risk reduction and response … Continue reading → …
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Beyond epidemiological certainties: building pandemic responses from below
How to respond to and prepare for pandemics is a top policy priority, but there are many uncertainties. In the fifth chapter of the book, Navigating Uncertainty: Radical Rethinking for a Turbulent World, I focus on the lessons from the … Continue reading → …
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Real-time reliability: managing uncertainties in critical infrastructures
‘Critical infrastructures’ are those that deliver important goods and services to society in the face of high levels of variability. They may be electricity supply systems or food producing systems, for example. The key question is how do the goods … Continue reading → …
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What is safe for whom? Negotiating new technologies under conditions of uncertainty
In the regulation of new technologies, the questions of what is safe for whom are always thrown up. This is the third blog in a short series discussing the new book – Navigating Uncertainty: Radical Rethinking for a Turbulent World. … Continue reading → …
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The financial crash: lessons from pastoralists?
This blog continues the short series on the new book, Navigating Uncertainty: Radical Rethinking for a Turbulent World. In the chapter on Finance and banking, I look at the 2007-08 financial crash and how particular models and regulatory practices created … Continue reading → …
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Navigating uncertainty: introducing a new book
Whether it’s climate change, financial volatility, pandemic outbreaks or new technologies, we don’t know what the future will hold. Uncertainties are everywhere. But how can we navigate them successfully? As Helga Nowotny described in her book, such “uncertainties are written into … Continue reading → …
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Zimbabweland’s top posts so far this year
Time to catch up on some of the blogs that you missed! Below are listed the top 15 blogs by views this year. Lots of themes to explore – on land, agriculture, drought and much more. The year started with … Continue reading → …
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Private sector-led transformation in Zimbabwe: can agriculture drive growth?
I was pointed to an intriguing World Bank report recently – Creating markets in Zimbabwe: Mobilizing the private sector in support of economic transformation – that came out earlier this year. It is striking in a number of ways. Not … Continue reading → …
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