Disaster in Agriculture: Or Foot and Mouth Mobilities
本文以2001年英国口蹄疫爆发为例，运用Perrow的“正常事故”理论，分析农业系统作为紧密耦合且复杂的流动系统，其脆弱性如何导致大规模灾难。
This paper is an exploration of the dynamics of the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001. Following Perrow's analysis of the catastrophic breakdown of technological systems, the author treats the UK agricultural system as a set of flows that are both tightly coupled and complex. This suggests that the stability of the agricultural system is precarious, and that when it is disrupted (as it was with the arrival of the foot and mouth virus) the consequences may be large scale and catastrophic. The foot and mouth outbreak, and more generally, aspects of global agriculture, are thus understood as ‘normal accidents’.