Calculating Political Risk is rich and illuminating, and much more than a political science treatise. Althaus draws on diverse literature, extensive interviews and intriguing case studies to offer interdisciplinary, practical and nuanced insight. This book provides new perspectives and more precise language for making sense of a critical dimension of politics, policy-making and public management. Evert Lindquist, Director and Professor, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria, Canada This powerful new book is the first ever examination of the hard edge of how political risk - something faced by all political actors innumerable times every day - is calculated and used in decision-making. It opens with an outline of the historical and linguistic origins of risk, the various disciplinary understandings of risk, the risk society concept, and how risk has come to be so prominent in the context of environmental disaster and terrorism. The book then defines political risk and looks at its manifestations in the public sector, from project to high-level political risk. It also looks at risk identification versus risk management and compares the concept of political risk with the private sector practice of risk management. Unique research findings from interviews with over 100 risk practitioners and politicians provide a detailed look at how political actors calculate political risk. Case study-based chapters look in-depth at neat and discrete examples: risk calculation in state development plans in Australia; political risk identification and management in the UK during the mad cow crisis; and US government risk calculation in the post-September 11 context. The final chapters draw together the experiences and lessons learned from the case studies and practitioner insights to formulate a better understanding of what political risk is and what its calculation means in political practice. The author shows how political risk calculation provides a fresh perspective on policy analysis and identifies how political risk is relevant to a broader understanding of politics and political science, as well as policy formulation and implementation on the ground.

"By matching agency decision data to detailed census information using geographic information systems (GIS) technology, the authors show that most hazardous waste sites do not pose sufficient risk to merit the most stringent cleanup options. Those sites that do pose considerable risk to exposed populations often receive inadequate attention, because government decisions to target cleanups are based more on political factors than on actual risks. The authors propose policy reforms that could significantly reduce cleanup costs without sacrificing the protection of human health."--BOOK JACKET.

Discusses the way leaders deal with risk in making foreign policy decisions

This book provides an up-to-date guide to managing Country Risk. It tackles its various and interlinked dimensions including sovereign risk, socio-political risk, and macroeconomic risk for foreign investors, creditors, and domestic residents. It shows how they are accentuated in the global economy together with new risks such as terrorism, systemic risk, environmental risk, and the rising trend of global volatility and contagion. The book also assesses the limited usefulness of traditional yardsticks of Country Risk, such as ratings and rankings, which at best reflect the market consensus without predictive value and at worst amplify risk aversion and generate crisis contamination. This book goes further than comparing a wide range of risk management methods in that it provides operational and forward-looking warning signs of Country Risk. The combination of the authors’ academic and market-based backgrounds makes the book a useful tool for scholars, analysts, and practitioners.

Political risk is one of the most frequently discussed risks to doing business internationally. But what exactly is political risk and what are the best ways to analyze and prepare for political risks that may jeopardize your business? Based on more than two decades of evaluating political risk to companies doing business all over the world, Steven Johnston explains the fundamentals of effective political risk analysis. What are the foundational principles and approaches for modeling and how can professionals improve accuracy of forecasting political risk? What really works? Why is high quality political risk analysis important to every business operating internationally? It’s not IF your business will be impacted by political events and actions. It is WHEN and HOW? However, effective political risk analysis isn’t limited to the domain of business resiliency and protecting downside risk. It is also a significant competitive advantage when a business can more accurately see just a little farther into the future than competitors and be ready to make earlier moves to avoid problems or take advantage of opportunities. The book spotlights top shelf thinkers about political risk and provides state-of-the-art ways to operationalize their valuable contributions into the business process. In addition to commenting on the current state of the field of political risk analysis, Johnston makes recommendations for improving the domain of political risk analysis. This book should be essential reading for any business professionals investing across borders and especially doing business in emerging economies.

Offering a fresh, transparent approach encompassing new material, this invigorating volume measures political risk - for instance the risk that foreign investment might face in any country. It also demonstrates how progress or regress made in good governance initiatives as conditionalities to aid can be assessed. Governments can monitor their own policy environment(s), and take remedial action if necessary. The methodology allows for measurement of previously un-quantified 'soft' factors that add to the risks foreign investors might face, demonstrating why these factors are of importance to both risk assertive and risk averse investors. Features include: - 103 contextualized, measurable risk factors and their 411 risk factor indicators. - Guidelines to using these factors in order to perform generic macro analyses, or micro, client/project/industry-specific analyses. - Explanation of the methodology with which to comprehensively measure the probability of risk occurring in any macro or micro investment climate.

The explosion in the number, size and complexity of mergers, acquisitions and alliances during the 1990s demonstrates how ingrained business combinations have become in the global business community.