Assuring Institutional Constancy: Requisite for Managing Long-Lived Hazards

Institutional constancy of agencies and firms is discussed as a concept and an increasingly important political requirement for the operation of hazardous systems in the U. S. Situations tliat increase demands for it are outlined and a basis for analysis and improving constancy is proposed.Managing large organizational systems poses extraordinary challenges for public institutions when such systems promise substantial benefits but are also so technically or financially hazardous in their design that grievous harm could befall producers and citizens.Not only are such institutions subject to the expected demands for effective performance, they are also pressed to operate at nearly failure fi"ee levels --well beyond ' This paper elaborates the concept discussed briefly in LaPorte, T.