Risk Dynamics and Risk Management in the Dansish Welfare State

The chapters in this book clearly demonstrate that life in a modern welfare state is changing rapidly and that different forms of risks and the management of risks play an important role in these changes. The different ways that risks are perceived and handled, both collectively and individually, are influencing and changing both the Danish welfare state and our understanding of it. However, as demonstrated in this book, risks as such are not a new phenomenon. In 1843, the Danish philosopher Søren A. Kierkegaard (1987) published a book called Either/Or, consisting of contributions and fragments from different authors all of which were pseudonyms for Kierkegaard himself. In one section a fragment famously reads:

If you marry, you will regret it; if you do not marry, you will also regret it; if you marry or do not marry, you will regret both; Laugh at the world’s follies, you will regret it, weep over them, you will also regret that; laugh at the world’s follies or weep over them, you will regret both […] Hang yourself, you will regret it; do not hang yourself, and you will also regret that; hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret both; whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the sum and substance of all philosophy.