By Afrcan Standards, Naive at best
Hey Eric,
Thanks for the links !
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... definition of a fragile state, simply, as one unable to meet its citizens’ expectations or manage changes in expectations and capacity through the political process.
If that were all it took to meet the definitions of a fragile State in Africa. There's little that I could gain from this in order to prepare for a tour in Sub-Sahara in any capacity even today. After more than 14 years, I could barely apply the same logic here.
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Originally Posted by
Beelzebubalicious
If we stop talking about what's not there and start noticing what is there
Concur. Not too sure why we can't see beyond our political means/methods. But then, being part of a Country Team never made much sense to me :wry:
I see and agree with some of what you what you wrote.
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Originally Posted by
selil
Disagree. Resilience is an excellent topic in a variety of theaters. The opposite though of resilience is not fragile it is brittle. Something can be incredibly strong (like an oak tree), but if it is brittle it will shatter under force.
Agree.
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Resilience as a concept is a precursor to much of the discussion on sustainability and military concepts such as force protection.
True but I disagree with the concept (not that anyone cares...) because it leads to esoteric discussions instead of concentration on issues.
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A resilient society can withstand privation and sacrifice much more than a "just in time" inventory society with levels and depths of brittle systems built upon each others.
Granted on the effect -- how either Society responds though is the indicator of their real 'resilience.' Also note that 'not just in time' society may surprise you with their resilience in spite of the massive change in their norms.
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Similarly the use of of contractors in the battlespace and substantial reliance on high cost weapons systems may appear to be effective but increase the brittle nature of conduct of war.
The 'resilience' is shown by how that force functions without contractors should they be abruptly removed. My suspicion is they would do far better than the Contractors would like to believe
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Overcoming or adapting may be sexy to scream as mantras but if the systems were resilient in the first place would be unnecessary.
You may use resiliency; I'd prefer reliable and redundant; not the same things
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In the end resilience admonition to societies from a variety of angles and to people directly that survival is about more than having a McDonalds available in time of disaster.
One would hope so. Don't think I've been to a McDonalds in over 10 years. :wry:
I get the point, Sam -- and do not disagree with the broad context. I do, however, believe that 'resilience' is built in to military structures and to people in general. That and I shudder every time a new term du jour pops up...
God, grant me the serenity...
Circa 1981, psychology 101... taught us that resilience was a personal trait and by no means something conventional. Rather, an individual trait with core values at the root. Something to the tune of being able to effectively deal with things efficiently in spite of the level of difficulty.
It used to be called Primary and Secondary Control. But, never conventional.
I need a shrink :o
relisiance, dependency and standing up local government
The notion of resilience, the ability and inclination for collective response to an external impact that damages or destroys formal institutions, is useful. Yes, the construct has been around for a long time. I don't mind the new term.
Right now we are all about standing up local government. This means we help local government deliver services (output legitimacy). The way we do this changes citizens into clients. They don't have to put anything in to get something out (no inputs required). This breeds dependency. We all know that. Dependency is a deficit. It tells us part of what is wrong, not what to grow.
For example
When I was in Bamiyan in 98 the farmers there just waited on their asses for the NGOs to come along and pay them through their shell of a local government to fix up the irrigation canals damaged by normal spring flooding like they did the year previous. This means that they did not have to work together to figure out how to do things on their own. Because they didn't have to work together, they lost one thing that forced them to work across tribal lines. Standing up local government, in this instance, strengthened divisions functional to conflict and undermined the networks of relationships/trust that enabled these folks to do things on their own. This version of standing up local government undermined it. We are doing the same today.
Talking about resilience adds the dimension of cross-difference relationships for collective action. It lets you see things you can't see when you talk about dependency. This ties better into an exit strategy. Resilient communities are likely more fertile ground for local democratic institutions.
Resilience is a useful notion today.
We'll find better language later.