Hazards to Public Interests: Essence and Manifestations

Public hazards, threats, and risks are studied by the general theory of national security. Russian scientists differentiate between the concepts of challenge, hazard, and threat. The authors used such interdisciplinary, dialectical, and socio-ecological approaches and methods as political science analysis and inclusive observation to describe the essential characteristics of these terms and develop their own definitions. A hazard has a non-targeted nature, i.e., it has neither intention to cause damage nor targeted resource provision. It differs from challenge and threat in that it is deprived of directions, goals, and resources. The current global hazards to basic public interests include nuclear and chemical terrorism, artificial intelligence, media, uncontrolled technological development, genetic or biological weapons, and man-made or natural environmental processes. By identifying the range of direct and indirect hazards, the government chooses national priorities, as well as opportunities for engaging non-governmental, public, and resource potential. Most modern hazards are inherent with civilizational progress and human interaction with nature that does not rely on co-evolution. As the ongoing technological development leads to an information-oriented type of society, new natural and public hazards are bound to occur.