The precautionary principle and international conflict over domestic regulation: mitigating uncertainty and improving adaptive capacity.
Disputes over invocation of precaution in the presence of uncertainty are building. This essay finds: (1) analysis of past WTO panel decisions and current EU-US regulatory conflicts suggests that appeals to scientific risk assessment will not resolve emerging conflicts; (2) Bayesian updating strategies, with commitments to modify policies as information emerges, may ameliorate conflicts over precaution in environmental and security affairs.
Oye
K A
KA
Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA. oye@mit.edu
D003132:Commerce; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004777:Environment; D004782:Environmental Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005060:Europe; D033161:Government Regulation; D007390:International Agencies; D007391:International Cooperation; D011050:Policy Making; D011634:Public Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D035501:Uncertainty; D014481:United States