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The last few decades have seen increasingly widespread use of risk assessment and management techniques as aids in making complex decisions. However, despite the progress that has been made in risk science, there still remain numerous examples of risk‐based decisions and conclusions that have caused great controversy. In particular, there is a great deal of debate surrounding risk assessment: the role of values and ethics and other extra‐scientific factors, the efficacy of quantitative versus qualitative analysis, and the role of uncertainty and incomplete information. Many of the epistemological and methodological issues confronting risk assessment have been explored in general systems theory, where techniques exist to manage such issues. However, the use of systems theory and systems analysis tools is still not widespread in risk management. This article builds on the Alachlor risk assessment case study of Brunk, Haworth, and Lee to present a systems‐based view of the risk assessment process. The details of the case study are reviewed and the authors' original conclusions regarding the effects of extra‐scientific factors on risk assessment are discussed. Concepts from systems theory are introduced to provide a mechanism with which to illustrate these extra‐scientific effects. The role of a systems study within a risk assessment is explained, resulting in an improved view of the problem formulation process. The consequences regarding the definition of risk and its role in decision making are then explored.

The Water Sustainability Act in British Columbia, Canada is a source of conflict among citizens, the provincial government, and industrial groundwater users. The water extraction fees stipulated in the act highlight the issue of water commodification and its potential legal consequences. Complementary approaches for conflict analysis are used to study this emerging conflict in order to gain valuable strategic insights. Analysis is performed using the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution, a flexible methodology for analyzing and modelling conflicts. In addition, generalized metarationalities and metarational trees, which account for the role and influence of policies in decisionmaking, are used to explore possible resolutions of the conflict. The analyses show that the current situation, where protesters lobby the government but the fees are not increased, is an equilibrium and thus unlikely to change. ; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

The domain of risk analysis is expanded to consider strategic interactions among multiple participants in the management of extreme risk in a system of systems. These risks are fraught with complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty, which pose challenges in how participants perceive, understand, and manage risk of extreme events. In the case of extreme events affecting a system of systems, cause‐and‐effect relationships among initiating events and losses may be difficult to ascertain due to interactions of multiple systems and participants (complexity). Moreover, selection of threats, hazards, and consequences on which to focus may be unclear or contentious to participants within multiple interacting systems (ambiguity). Finally, all types of risk, by definition, involve potential losses due to uncertain events (uncertainty). Therefore, risk analysis of extreme events affecting a system of systems should address complex, ambiguous, and uncertain aspects of extreme risk. To accomplish this, a system of systems engineering methodology for risk analysis is proposed as a general approach to address extreme risk in a system of systems. Our contribution is an integrative and adaptive systems methodology to analyze risk such that strategic interactions among multiple participants are considered. A practical application of the system of systems engineering methodology is demonstrated in part by a case study of a maritime infrastructure system of systems interface, namely, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.