Situating the Routledge Handbook of Political Risk

This chapter introduces The Routledge Handbook of Political Risk. The Handbook is the result of a joint effort to consolidate and situate political risk as both a rigorous field of academic inquiry and a practical tool for corporate decision-makers in an increasingly complex and unpredictable world. The Hand- book has something for everyone. Not only is it meant to be useful for academics interested in the larger field of political-economy and international business studies, but its potential for a broader general audience is quite significant, given the versatility and appeal of the subject matter to so many industries and fields such as Political Science, Management, Area and Security Studies, Geography, History, Sociology and more. While a number of policy-oriented questions concerning economic development, democracy, climate, trade policy, regulatory regimes, security, and multilateralism are addressed in various chapters, the Handbook will also be informative for consultants, investors, government officials, and corporations interested in strategies for, and risks to, global investment in a time of uncertainty and instability.