Abstract

One of the oldest functions of the law is the regulation of risks generated by various human activities. In the contemporary age, technological and scientific progress raises new challenges in this respect. The institutional apparatus of the most industrialized countries that responds to them reflects different approaches to risk regulation. This brings about regulatory conflicts that originate from different political inputs, economic interests, and cultural factors. This contribution highlights which inputs and factors operate to produce those variations, as well as some patterns of hybridization that render these contrasts less acute.