January, 2009

Risk Communication, Resilience, and the Wolf We Nurture

by William Burns
The Conversation
January 22nd, 2009

President Obama in his inaugural address squarely acknowledges that our country is facing significant challenges at home and abroad. These challenges, whether they are from the threat of terrorism or the current financial crisis, have brought hardships to many people from all walks of life. We have for a time been knocked down. Even so, [...]

Read: Risk Communication, Resilience, and the Wolf We Nurture

Getting to the Specifics

by John Mueller
The Conversation
January 21st, 2009

It might be good to request some specifics. I very much agree with William Burns that for Americans “the probability of being harmed” by terrorists is “extraordinarily small,” that “we need solid risk communication” about it, and that effective communication “should foster resilience and not fear.” The question is, what messages does the research on [...]

Read: Getting to the Specifics

Commentary on Terrorism and Risk Communication by Timothy Sellnow

Editors’ Note: From time to time, we receive particularly well-considered expert commentary on an issue of Cato Unbound. This month we received two such commentaries, and we are pleased to run the second of them today. It comes from Timothy Sellnow, a professor of risk and crisis communication at the University of Kentucky who has [...]

Read: Commentary on Terrorism and Risk Communication by Timothy Sellnow

Risk Communication and the Dynamics of Public Response

by William Burns
The Conversation
January 16th, 2009

Camille Pecastaing offers a number of useful insights in response to my essay and Bernard Finel’s and John Mueller’s comments. He begins by pointing out that what I call fear in my essay is really anxiety. This is a good point, because fear is more visceral but anxiety endures well past the traumatic events. Anxiety [...]

Read: Risk Communication and the Dynamics of Public Response

The Practicality of Instructing about Terrorism

by Camille Pecastaing
The Conversation
January 16th, 2009

While it is easy to agree on the benefits to better educating citizens about risks from terrorism, there are many paths to enlightenment, some more practical than others. The task would not just be about preparing the people most likely to be exposed to an emergency, namely those in the largest metropolitan areas, but about [...]

Read: The Practicality of Instructing about Terrorism

Commentary on Terrorism and Risk Communication by Howard Kunreuther

Editors’ Note: From time to time, we receive particularly well-considered expert commentary on an issue of Cato Unbound. This month we received two such commentaries, and we are pleased to run the first of them today. It comes from Howard Kunreuther, the Cecilia Yen Koo Professor of Decision Sciences and Public Policy [...]

Read: Commentary on Terrorism and Risk Communication by Howard Kunreuther

Encouraging a Resilient Public

by Bernard Finel
The Conversation
January 14th, 2009

On most issues, I think the gap between my perspective and Dr. Burns’ is quite small. I don’t think that policy success directly translates into changes in public perceptions. And I agree with his conclusion, “Take-away lesson: To be effective, reducing risk must be accompanied by identifying gaps in public understanding.” Where [...]

Read: Encouraging a Resilient Public

Reducing Actual Threat Doesn’t Translate Into Decreased Perceptions of Risk or Changes in Behavior, We Need Solid Risk Communication as Well!

by William Burns
The Conversation
January 12th, 2009

Bernard Finel and John Mueller (I’ll respond separately to Camille Pecastaing’s commentary) offer spirited and at moments insightful objections to my central thesis that our dialog surrounding terrorism should have as its primary goal increased resilience to threats like terrorism. I also advocate we should confront fear of terrorism directly by risk communications grounded in [...]

Read: Reducing Actual Threat Doesn’t Translate Into Decreased Perceptions of Risk or Changes in Behavior, We Need Solid Risk Communication as Well!

The Death and Rebirth of Common Sense

by Camille Pecastaing
Reaction Essay
January 12th, 2009

Camille Pecastaing argues that although the United States had faced terrorism before September 11, something about that particular attack clearly induced more widespread fear. Was it the magnitude of the attack? The foreignness of the attackers? The response of the Bush administration? A combination of all of these? Our answers, about which there is no consensus, may prove important in responding to future attacks.

He also observes two particularities about the response to September 11: First, there was overwhelming momentum toward hysteria. And second, that momentum dissipated very quickly. Although we are still paying the price for this overreaction today, we at least inhabit a political world where the costs can be assessed soberly and where we can attempt to craft better counterterrorism strategies for the future.

Read: The Death and Rebirth of Common Sense

Fearing Fear

by John Mueller
Reaction Essay
January 9th, 2009

In his response essay, John Mueller puts some (astonishingly small) numbers on the likelihood of being killed by terrorists. He also notes that the dangers of overreaction and fear are indeed quite great, often greater than the dangers that prompted the fear in the first place. Irrational fears lead to lost civil liberties, useless or near-useless government agencies and programs, and a variety of anxiety-related public health problems. Each of these may well be worse, in terms of hurting out quality of life, than whatever terrorism they were designed to stop.

Read: Fearing Fear

Just Finding the Right Words Won’t Solve Real Problems (Or Leave Madison Avenue Out of This)

by Bernard Finel
Reaction Essay
January 7th, 2009

In his response to William Burns, Bernard Finel argues that “the fear of fear” can also be exaggerated: Panics come and go, and U.S. institutions that support liberty and limited government are more robust than we often tend to think. Finel also expresses skepticism about the power of messaging, which he terms a “blunt instrument.” Although terrorism has been used, regrettably, as a tool of partisan politics, the right response is simply to condemn this approach and leave it behind. A better message about terrorism won’t do much to combat public fear, in part because the U.S. government is just one voice among many, and fearmongers are still out there regardless of what it might say. Finel argues that a better strategy for actually ending terrorism might include U.S. disengagement from the Middle East, nuclear nonproliferation, and energy independence, among other measures, and that these, too, are likely to ease public fears.

Read: Just Finding the Right Words Won’t Solve Real Problems (Or Leave Madison Avenue Out of This)

The Path Well Taken: Making the Right Decisions about Risks from Terrorism

by William Burns
Lead Essay
January 5th, 2009

In his lead essay, William Burns argues that national discussion of terrorism can take one of two forms: It may be reflexive and fear-driven, or scientific and confident. He expresses hope that the new administration will choose the latter: In recent years, abundant research has been conducted on the social psychology of risk, and that of terrorist risk in particular. Moreover, the transition to a new administration offers an opportunity to change the official tone of public discourse about terrorism, and to employ many of the insights now being produced in social psychology. Burns outlines some of the major findings and describes how they might be applied to public counterterrorism policy.

Read: The Path Well Taken: Making the Right Decisions about Risks from Terrorism