Balancing between Trade and Risk: Integrating Legal and Social Science Perspectives

The trade aspects of risk and the risk aspects of trade deserve more systematic and genuine interdisciplinary attention if we are to really understand the global, international and supranational dimensions of risk regulation. This book brings together legal and social science research on risk regulation from across the world to explore risk regulation in a trade context. The interdisciplinary collaboration provided in this book is needed to address the trade versus risk balancing act both in empirical and theoretical terms.

Although it is obvious that legal, social, cultural and political matters interfere with risk regulation, analyses in which these interferences are adequately considered are lacking. In one way or another, all chapters in this book address the issue of scientific uncertainty, the governance arrangements around expertise or both. Issues such as transparency, trust, legitimacy and precaution also become particularly important given the political, multi-actor and multi-level governance characteristics of the balancing act between trade and risk regulation.

This book highlights and examines these concerns, going on to provide a critical assessment of the EU regulation of trade and risk both from external and internal perspectives. This book’s exploration of the balancing act between trade and risk regulation will be increasingly important to students of law and social sciences as they move to a shared, interdisciplinary understanding.

Marjolein B. A. van Asselt is Professor of Risk Governance, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Maastricht University, and member of the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), The Hague.

Esther Versluis is Associate Professor European Regulatory Governance at the Department of Political Science, Maastricht University.

Ellen Vos is Professor of European Union Law at the Law Faculty of Maastricht University and co-director of the Maastricht Centre for European Law of Maastricht University.