PERCEIVED RISK, TRUST, AND DEMOCRACY

Risk management has become increasingly politicized and contentious. P olarized views, controversy, and overt conflict have become pervasive. Risk-perception research has recently begun to provide a new perspect ive on this problem. Distrust in risk analysis and risk management pla ys a central role in this perspective. According to this view, the con flicts and controversies surrounding risk management are not due to pu blic ignorance or irrationality but, instead, are seen as a side effec t of our remarkable form of participatory democracy, amplified by powe rful technological and social changes that systematically destroy trus t. Recognizing the importance of trust and understanding the ''dynamic s of the system'' that destroys trust has vast implications for how we approach risk management in the future.