Power as a Source of Risk

Abstract

The problem of risk connected with the power administration requires a rethinking of traditional ideas about power. Its images of law and sovereignty, disciplinary domination within the framework of modern forms of government need to be rethought. The information theory of power developed by N. Luhmann and the concept of governmentality of M. Foucault are directed against the ideology of the subject, where the ruling subject is one of the effective means and images of power. For both Foucault and Luhmann, power is immanent in its own manifestations, it is synchronous with all transformations in the macrostructures of society and is not outside, but inside. For Luhmann, the risk of power is the risk of a decision. The topic of risk is not at all in the domain of the subject dimension; it must be sought in the state of the temporal and social dimension. However, modern society should present possible threats not in the risk mode, but in the danger mode. The problem is that it is impossible to identify false or correct decisions. Once the decision is made, the risk cannot be avoided. If there are no risk-free solutions, the multiplication of research and knowledge would not make it possible to move from risk to reliability. Luhmann's position is opposed by the followers of M. Foucault, who supplement the concept of government with the idea of reflexive control. Reflexive control abstracts from solution problems. For this direction, risk is a way of thinking about the world. Therefore, the task of management is to identify risky objects and accordingly coordinate management tasks and determine measures to eliminate or reduce the risk. The industrial society tried to protect itself by means of some kind of social contract against the dangers and damage generated by this society. A system of private and public insurance was established. Modern society questions the principle of insurance because it is unable to insure itself against the mega-hazards of nuclear energy or catastrophic climate change. The four pillars of "computable risks" are crumbling: compensation, constraint, security and computation. The risk has ceased to be calculable. Its incalculability characterizes the current state of society.