از بی کفایتی پیشگیرانه تا مدیریت ریسک مشارکتی

This paper examines the case of mobile telephone infrastructure as an example of a contemporary risk defined by a lack of scientific evidence and consensus as regards potential or future harm. This uncertainty has led to recourse to the precautionary principle at the European, national, regional and local level of EMF risk management. Local risk governance of mobile telephone infrastructures in Catalonia can be seen as an example of a socio-technical complex system linked to risk perception which highlights the limitations of the precautionary principle in a scientifically uncertain context. Active participation of stakeholders and the public in risk management arenas is required if current technocratic risk management strategies are to be superseded by transparent processes of decision-making in risk management spheres.

Contemporary society is currently faced by an increasing volume of issues related to the complexity of scientific and technological progress. Risks associated with different socio-technical complex systems are comprised of technical elements and social processes of definition between distinct social actors [1], [2], [3] and [4]. The high potential for complex interactions [5] and the highly uncertain scientific environment in which these socio-technical systems operate leads to a situation in which the management of potential risk in fact becomes not only a technical and scientific issue but also a social management task [6] and [7]. Although the form of technology may be described as scientific, to the extent that it is constructed by humans [8] within robust and powerful (though imperfect and sometimes uncertain) technical systems, it is applied to and for a social world. Therefore, the consequences that stem from the implementation of complex socio-technical systems evolve or indeed become social issues. The complexity of risks associated with technology therefore, do not stem from their specific technological components but are intimately linked and tied to their social and collective management. In this sense, complexity is also an intrinsic characteristic of the collective construction of risk, thereby implicated in its very meaning, structure and function. Risks as complex technological phenomenon are presented here as an intrinsic characteristic of socio-technical systems, extending and uniting technological complexity to an emerging social complexity. Classical uncertainty, linked among other things to limitations in the technical knowledge of risks, becomes connected to the social uncertainty of socio-technical systems. Risk management therefore becomes seen as a socio-technical problem that incorporates elements of scientific uncertainty (potential risks) and also hypothetical (if not certain) social agents or stakeholders that operate, regulate and manage the technical system [3]. As a response to this situation the implementation of the precautionary principle becomes an insufficient or indeed an inadequate form of risk management [9], [10] and [11]. This is due to its incapacity of guiding public action in terms of the socially constructed perception of risk. This is what we will conceptualise and therefore term ‘precautionary inadequacy’. In terms of the present article, the sphere of telecommunications and more specifically mobile telephone infrastructure is taken to be our social issue operating in the paradigm of a socio-technical system. The spread of wireless communications has not only meant that there are now numerically more technological devices (mobile telephones) than users [12], but also that individuals have gained new capacities and the potential to personalise (be it ‘individualising’ [13] or ‘communitising’ [14], [15], [16] and [17] the use of this technology). These communicational activities have therefore led to the development of new types of relationships, with oneself, with others and with one's environment. These developments however, more fundamentally are also exposing the scientific limitations of predicting and determining consequences associated with the intensive use of certain new technologies. The social response to the scientific uncertainty regarding the effects of the developments and implementation of this technology is linked to an acute and persistent perception of the associated risks [18] and [11]. It is in this context, that science becomes the nature and object of social debate as technology intervenes in everyday life generating dependence, independence and interdependence. Technological development might appear unquestionable, or at least inevitable, however it is in the sphere of interdependence where the establishment of technical measures for prevention, precaution and regulation need to be fostered accompanied by transparency and the participation of communities and individuals throughout decision-making processes [19]. This article highlights the case of the local management of mobile telephone infrastructures in Catalonia as an example of a socio-technical complex system linked to risk perception and the limitations of the precautionary principle in a scientifically uncertain context. The rapid deployment of infrastructure combined with uncertainties surrounding the health effects of electromagnetic fields has led to a situation characterised by doubt, controversy and conflicts between social actors [20]. Examining the controversy from a risk ‘governance’ framework [21], [22] and [23], at the local level enables us to question the disciplinary narrow-mindedness of the traditional approach to risk management whilst also promoting the innovative practice of transdisciplinary approach to risk assessment [24]. This approach attempts to overcome the socio-technical obstacles that arise through the implementation of certain technological infrastructures, whilst encouraging the creation of some sort of social consensus in the previously uncharted areas of potential risks and scientific uncertainty.

In summary therefore we would like to highlight some of the factors that not only define the risk management process in the local socio-technical context of mobile telephone infrastructure in Catalonia yet also negatively characterise the generic praxis of risk management. First and foremost we highlight the evident lack of competent risk governance strategy by the Catalonian public administrations. Perceptions of risk have been managed from behind a wall of uncertainty to which discordant voices of specialists have proven unable to provide effective responses. In this sense, the monopoly of specialists in relation to the diagnosis of risks can certainly be brought into question. Scientists operating within contemporary societies cannot continue to guarantee certainties with respect to risks, but need to begin to share their doubts with society. Secondly, the discrepancy between specialists generates ambiguous conclusions and debatable interpretations that ensures that any kind of unidirectional risk governance, encompassing risk communication inadvisable. Communication from a government of experts to a community of ‘ignorant passive subjects’ becomes problematic. A confrontation has therefore arisen between a new scientific rationale that is justified by ideas of progress and a new social rationale that is based on the consequences of this progress. Third, the insufficiency of the precautionary principle as an instrument for risk management in this field becomes apparent. Finally, the essential reformulation of decision-making processes becomes paramount in this field. Processes that incorporate public participation and transparency that form part of the concept of local risk governance located in a much wider context, call for the interdisciplinary governance of knowledge for the common good.