Law and Catastrophe sketches contours of a relatively fresh--yet crucial--terrain of inquiry. It begins the work of developing a jurisprudence of catastrophe.
Catastrophic risks are much greater than is commonly appreciated. Collision with an asteroid, runaway global warming, voraciously replicating nanomachines, a pandemic of gene-spliced smallpox launched by bioterrorists, and a world-ending accident in a high-energy particle accelerator, are among the possible extinction events that are sufficiently likely to warrant careful study. How should we respond to events that, for a variety of psychological and cultural reasons, we find it hard to wrap our minds around? Posner argues that realism about science and scientists, innovative applications of cost-benefit analysis, a scientifically literate legal profession, unprecedented international cooperation, and a pragmatic attitude toward civil liberties are among the keys to coping effectively with the catastrophic risks.
Best-selling author Cass R. Sunstein examines how to avoid worst-case scenarios The world is increasingly confronted with new challenges related to climate change, globalization, disease, and technology. Governments are faced with having to decide how much risk is worth taking, how much destruction and death can be tolerated, and how much money should be invested in the hopes of avoiding catastrophe. Lacking full information, should decision-makers focus on avoiding the most catastrophic outcomes? When should extreme measures be taken to prevent as much destruction as possible? Averting Catastrophe explores how governments ought to make decisions in times of imminent disaster. Cass R. Sunstein argues that using the “maximin rule,” which calls for choosing the approach that eliminates the worst of the worst-case scenarios, may be necessary when public officials lack important information, and when the worst-case scenario is too disastrous to contemplate. He underscores this argument by emphasizing the reality of “Knightian uncertainty,” found in circumstances in which it is not possible to assign probabilities to various outcomes. Sunstein brings foundational issues in decision theory in close contact with real problems in regulation, law, and daily life, and considers other potential future risks. At once an approachable introduction to decision-theory and a provocative argument for how governments ought to handle risk, Averting Catastrophe offers a definitive path forward in a world rife with uncertainty.
The author argues for a new perspective on disaster law that is based on the principles of environmental protection. His prescription boils down to three simple commands: Go green, be fair, and keep safe. He argues that government must assume a stronger regulatory role in managing natural infrastructure, distributional fairness, and public risk.--[book cover].
The study of catastrophe is a growth industry. Today, cosmologists scan the heavens for asteroids of the kind that smashed into earth some ninety million years ago, leading to the swift extinction of the dinosaurs. Climatologists create elaborate models of the chaotic weather and vast flooding that will result from the continued buildup of greenhouse gases in the planet's atmosphere. Terrorist experts and homeland security consultants struggle to prepare for a wide range of possible biological, chemical, and radiological attacks: aerated small pox virus spread by a crop duster, botulism dumped into an urban reservoir, a dirty bomb detonated in a city center. Yet, strangely, law's role in the definition, identification, prevention, and amelioration of catastrophe has been largely neglected. The relationship between law and other limiting conditions—such as states of emergency—has been the subject of rich and growing literature. By contrast, little has been written about law and catastrophe. In devoting a volume to the subject, the essays' authors sketch the contours of a relatively fresh, yet crucial, terrain of inquiry. Law and Catastrophe begins the work of developing a jurisprudence of catastrophe.
If catastrophes are, by definition, exceptional events of such magnitude that worlds and lives are dramatically overturned, the question of timing would pose a seemingly straightforward, if not redundant question. The Time of Catastrophe demonstrates the analytic productiveness of this question, arguing that there is much to be gained by interrogating the temporal conceits of conventional understandings of catastrophe and the catastrophic. Bringing together a distinguished, interdisciplinary group of scholars, the book develops a critical language for examining 'catastrophic time', recognizing the central importance of, and offering a set of frameworks for, examining the alluring and elusive qualities of catastrophe. Framed around the ideas of Agamben, Kant and Benjamin, and drawing on philosophy, history, law, political science, anthropology and the arts, this volume seeks to demonstrate how the question of 'catastrophic time' is in fact a question about something much more than the frequency of disasters in our so-called 'Age of Catastrophe'.
This book takes a different approach to the history of philosophy, exploring a neglected theme, the relationship between catastrophe and philosophy. The book analyzes this theme within texts from ancient times to the present, from a global perspective. The book’s focus is timely and relevant today, as the planet is certainly facing a number of impending catastrophes right now, e.g., environmental degradation, overpopulation, the threat of nuclear war, etc.
Disaster Law and Policy examines the growing field concerned with disaster prevention, emergency response, compensation and& insurance, human rights, and community recovery. The first book on disaster law to appear in the wake of Katrina, this fascinating text provides the key building blocks for a thoughtful analysis of the issues that surround disaster-relief policy and procedure. Exploring the legal issues that surround Katrina and other natural disasters in the U.S. and around the world, Disaster Law and Policy, features: effective tools for legal analysis of issues emerging from disastrous events discussion problems and class exercises an interdisciplinary approach that combines law, public policy, economics, and science broad coverageand—from environmental and land use law to insurance, tort law, and civil rights issues discussion of public expectations of government response in crisis, compared to actual government and private sector preparedness and capabilities examination of post disaster issues such as Medicaid, the role of environmental litigation, communications, law enforcement, evacuation, and the work of the Army Corps of Engineers on the levees in New Orleans Adopting a wider perspective that looks at the legal ramifications of disasters across the United States and around the world, the Second Edition offers: a new chapter on the causes of disasters and their relationship to laws designed to protect health, safety, and the environment a new chapter on risk and uncertainty that examines the latest ideas to come out of economics, complexity theory, and organizational management a new chapter on international disaster law that looks at recent developments in disaster-risk management, the protection of human rights, and the preservation of ecosystem services Coverage includes discussion of the 2005 Asian Tsunami, Chinaand’s Sechuan Earthquake, and Cycloe Nargis in Mynamar/Burma a new chapter on recovery from disaster that features an extended class exercise A unique and timely text in a burgeoning field, Disaster Law and Policy, Second Edition, is ideal for use in a seminar or a course on disaster issuesand—or as a supplement in courses on environmental law or land use.
The number, intensity, and impact of diverse forms of 'natural' and 'human-made' disasters are increasing. In response, the international community has shifted its primary focus away from disaster response to prevention and improved preparedness. The current globally agreed upon roadmap is the ambitious Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, central to which is the better understanding of disaster risk management and mitigation. Sendai also urges innovative implementation, especially multi-sectoral and multi-hazard coherence. Yet the law sector itself remains relatively under-developed, including a paucity of supporting 'DRR law' scholarship and minimal cross-sectoral engagement. Commonly, this is attributable to limited understanding by other sectors about law's dynamic potential as a tool of disaster risk mitigation, despite the availability of many risk-related norms across a broad spectrum of legal regimes. This unique, timely Handbook brings together global and multi-sector perspectives on one of the most pressing policy issues of our time.
From the end of the Revolution until 1851, the Virginia legislature granted most divorces in the state. It granted divorces rarely, however, turning down two-thirds of those who petitioned for them. Men and women who sought release from unhappy marriages faced a harsh legal system buttressed by the political, religious, and communal cultures of southern life. Through the lens of this hostile environment, Thomas Buckley explores with sympathy the lives and legal struggles of those who challenged it. Based on research in almost 500 divorce files, The Great Catastrophe of My Life involves a wide cross-section of Virginians. Their stories expose southern attitudes and practices involving a spectrum of issues from marriage and family life to gender relations, interracial sex, adultery, desertion, and domestic violence. Although the oppressive legal regime these husbands and wives battled has passed away, the emotions behind their efforts to dissolve the bonds of marriage still resonate strongly.