Description

This talk has two distinct parts. In the first part I will recount some of the history of the concept of resilience as it is usually told in the context of sustainability science (e.g., Thorén 2021). The most immediate root thread runs back to debates in the late 1960s and early 1970s in population ecology as a new generation of ecologists began to question and problematize old assumptions about the relationship between stability and complexity in ecosystems. In this context a need arose for a more precise vocabulary to describe the seemingly many ways in which complex systems, such as ecosystems, can dynamically stable. In particular it was important to differentiate the ability of some system to return to a reference state from the ability of a system to persist and retain its main features—for instance its structure or function—through a disturbance. This basic distinction is retained, it appears, in most contexts where resilience is used.

As the concept takes on a life of its own, first in thinking about ecosystem and resources management, and then in sustainability science as a pivotal concept in discussions of topics such as sustainability and adaptation, it changes. The emphasis shifts from persistence to transformation and change. Resilience comes to be associated with the ability of adaptive systems to rearrange themselves, change and learn (Folke 2006) or even make use of changing circumstances for their own benefit (Holling 1978, 11)

I conclude this first part by considering the several ways in which the concept of resilience itself is flexible and adaptable to different situations and what this might mean for its usefulness and informativeness. An important challenge has to do with the normativity of the concept and its potential political valences.

In the second part of the paper, I attempt to bring some of these insights to the discussion of resilience and the welfare state. Here I try to briefly survey the way the concept has been used in this context to discuss a range of rather different phenomena such as the resilience of the welfare state itself, as well as how the welfare state can or does improve or promote the resilience of its citizens.

In the final part of the paper I will return to the issue of values and normativity and how to responsibly manage these aspects with respect to the concept of resilience.
Period2023 Dec 1
Event titleInterdisciplinary perspectives on resilience and the welfare state
Event typeConference
LocationFrankfurt (Oder), GermanyShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational