Abstract
This chapter engages in more depth with two of the strategies that the FRS use to govern fire risk: protection and preparedness. Under the nomenclature of governmental logics, I probe these strategies in terms of the different forces that are enrolled in their deployment. Forces here are taken to refer to a number of things: from the formal courses of action entailed in governmental logics to the range of human and non-human agents that are drawn together in their enactment. Conceptually, this chapter argues two things. Firstly, I argue that governmental logics can be distinguished from one another in terms of their ontogenetic capacities. In other words, how their enactment rests on, and brings to life, particular ways of perceiving and apprehending future emergencies. Secondly, I demonstrate how governmental logics are enveloped in processes of detournement in which their adoption from elsewhere across the broader security apparatus and reapplication to the specific field of fire risk governance can be charted and traced. Detournement helps to understand the broader political underpinnings and consequences that rise to the surface with the application of these governmental logics specifically for the purpose of governing fire emergencies.
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Notes
- 1.
For a comprehensive overview of both the floods and lack of preparedness see: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/13/uk-floods-essential-guide
- 2.
In the aftermath of the flooding, the UK government’s Environmental Audit Committee established an inquiry into government failures in response to the emergency, documents relating to which can be found here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmenvaud/183/18302.htm
- 3.
For instance, a recent report produced by the Institute For Public Policy Research demonstrated that London receives ten times more funding for transport projects than Yorkshire does (2015).
- 4.
- 5.
http://www.itv.com/news/central/story/2017-03-31/fire-crews-called-to-hospital/ (last accessed 11/09/2017).
- 6.
https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/news_features/Leicester-landlord-jailed-for-breaching-fire-safety-regulations (last accessed 11/09/2017).
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O’Grady, N. (2018). Be Prepared, To Protect: Detournement and the Forces Behind Governmental Logics. In: Governing Future Emergencies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71991-7_6
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