The concept of risk in social actors that inhabit a high vulnerability region

Abstract

Risk management is a central concept for human development. Dwelling on the Chilean experience, this article examines the discursive elaboration of risk by relevant social agents, with the aim of establishing whether risk and models of (human) development are explicitly linked. Methodology: the paper is based on in-depth, qualitative interviews and discourse analysis as analytic approach. Results: The discourses are characterized by a non-politization of matters related to risk; that is, these appear mainly from the viewpoint of their consequences for human population, but their origins in human decisions. Conclusions: Risk, especially the type originated in human activity, is often stripped away of its political dimension, making difficult an effective risk management that could be centered in long-term human well-being.