This essay briefly shines light on the current, normative, and positivist philosophies of how risk is debated in the field of project and program management. Then an alternative view is offered - Social Theories of Risk. This essay then analyses the National Programme for IT in the NHS (NPfIT), in its time the largest civilian ICT project in the world. The analysis focuses on the political struggles surrounding the project and asks the questions; What order was disturbed? Who disturbed the order? Who was blamed? and How was order re-established? The essay then contrasts notions from Social Theories of Risk with the idea of Governmentality to manage ICT project risk. The essay shows that Social Theories of Risk and Governmentality, both concepts not yet embraced in the ICT community, offer valuable insight into the study and the practice of ICT projects as clumsy solutions to wicked problems
