Hi there. In the previous video, we introduced you to some examples of global security challenges so that you'd get a feel for the complexity of the domain of modern day security studies. We explained that modern day security challenges are often glocal. They reached the local, and the international level and all levels in between. But why are security and safety challenges so complex? What does complexity mean in relation to safety, security, and risk? The answer to this is that modern day security and safety threats and incidents can be labeled as wicked problems. What is a wicked problem? The term wicked problems was coined by Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber, two scientists working at the University of California in 1973. They pointed out that in policy making, professionals often must find solutions for societal issues and problems that have no clear answers. Let's say you were asked to complete a chess problem. This is a relatively straight forward thing to do. In chess you're allowed to move each piece only in a limited set of ways. Therefore, it's possible to calculate the outcomes of the different moves you can make, especially when you're a well trained chess player. Moreover, it's easy to assess whether you've accomplished your goal. Either you solve the problem, or you don't. And if you don't, you can just keep trying until you do. What applies to chess, unfortunately does not apply to many societal issues. Unlike chess problems, societal issues can be viewed in many different ways. People often don't agree on whether or not something is a societal problem and if so on how to understand it. Moreover many societal problems are much more layered and complex than for example a chess problem. This makes it even more difficult to understand them. Since views often diverge on societal issues, finding agreement about what could work as a solution becomes incredibly difficult as well. What's more very often societal problems are highly interconnected. They're closely connected to other issues. Intervening to solve one issue may have unintended or unforeseen consequences in other domains. And oftentimes, a single intervention leads to many different changes in different areas. For example, let's say you want to lower our environmental footprints by stimulating the use of green cars. For instance, electrical vehicles. You could get more people to buy a green car by giving them a subsidy for doing so. But if you do this may greatly increase the number of vehicles on the road and thus lead to significantly more traffic jams. A single intervention therefore has multiple effects and potentially leads to other societal issues. What's more, what often occurs when we seek to deal with societal problems is that we encounter competing values and all sorts of political and economic constraints that not only influence the scoping of the problem, but also the potential solutions that are available. Different political parties focus on different societal issues. And when in government, chose to spend money on different problems. Moreover, societal issues are always unique. In contrast to chess problems, societal issues always arise in a specific historical, socio-economic, and political context. There are therefore no easy solutions or quick fixes that can be used across the board for such problems. And to make matters worse, making mistakes when trying to solve societal problems is really not an option. If you fail to solve a chess problem the first time around, you can just keep experimenting until you do. It does no harm, it costs nothing to try a couple of times. But when we look for solutions to societal challenges, trial and error is not an option. When you choose a solution for a societal challenge, this affects the lives of many people, and it costs a lot of money. This means you have to choose well; right the first time. In light of the previous characteristics of societal issues however, this is no easy feat indeed. Because of these five characteristics of societal issues, they can be labeled as wicked problems. Are they modern day security challenges that we discussed wicked problems then? Yes, they certainly are. Let's see why. First of all, there's no agreement in today's world on what constitutes a security challenge. Or on how they should be addressed. Different actors view and label these challenges differently, and propose different solutions. Different cultures view security and security differently and are willing to take different risks for many reasons. Second, modern day security challenges are highly interconnected. We've seen this extensively in the previous video. Security or safety issues that arise in one location can spread to many other places on the globe and have an immense impact. Moreover, attempts at diminishing security or safety risks, may easily lead to new instances of risk and create new societal problems. Third, security agendas are shaped by political and economic concerns. Labelling something as a security or safety risk has consequences. If the risk is significant enough, it requires a response. This is costly. And often difficult, which is why actors may seek to keep security issues off the political agenda. Alternatively, they may seek to make security risks look bigger than they actually are and aim at explicitly prioritizing them, for example, to hide other political or societal issues. Fourth, every security incident and every security risk is unique. No two are alike. This is so because the context in which they arise, both physically, socially, and economically, is vital for the labeling, understanding, and solving of security incidents. And finally, security challenges cannot be solved through trial and error. Oftentimes, such challenges involve risks to large groups of people, and have significant impact. Addressing such issues must be done well; right the first time. No chances can be taken here. So, we've seen that the complexity of modern day safety and security challenges stems from the fact that they can be labeled wicked problems. That's it for today. In the next video, we will recap the first week and provide you with some input on the assignment.
