Resilience

[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.

Resilience as a concept is a precursor to much of the discussion on sustainability and military concepts such as force protection.

Resilience as an ideology is a much broader set of concepts than John Robb and others have discussed. Often pigeon holed resilience refers to societal rather than simple military matters. 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.

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. Overcoming or adapting may be sexy to scream as mantras but if the systems were resilient in the first place would be unnecessary.

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.

[Ken White]

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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...

[Fuchs]

Disagree. Resilience is an excellent topic in a variety of theaters.

I challenge you to name one instance where "resilience" as a concept helps to gain an insight that isn't already covered by conventional means.

[marct]

Hi Fuchs,

I challenge you to name one instance where "resilience" as a concept helps to gain an insight that isn't already covered by conventional means.

Could you be a little more explicit about what you mean by "conventional means"? There are precursors to the concept of resilience in Karl Polanyi's writings in the 1940's and in some of the Anthropology literature even earlier.

[Fuchs]

"Resilience" has for example been applied to financial markets. Those markets would need to become "resilient" to avert further breakdowns.

In that case I would point at the basic requirement of systemic risk control (as conventional means) to show that we need no "resilience" concept to explain or create stable financial markets.

[Stan]

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

[marct]

I need a shrink

I hesitate to think what you'd do with one if you got your hands on them !

[Fuchs]

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

The use of "resilience" as buzzword isn't about individuals, but about groups (companies, forces, communities, industrial sectors, nations).

It's typical for buzzwords that a entirely normal word is being mis-used in a different, slightly related meaning.

[selil]

I challenge you to name one instance where "resilience" as a concept helps to gain an insight that isn't already covered by conventional means.

Resilient communities have little need for federal assistance in disaster. As found in the red river floods where farmers responded rapidly to impending disaster. Their resilience allowed for a response to an event that dwarfed the scope (if measured in area rather than media) of New Orleans which was an example of a brittle community. Communities are made up of individuals that create characteristics in the larger society that are independent of the individual efforts.

Your challenge though is a non sequitur. The concept of resilience IS a conventional term and it has only recently been discovered by military pundits. Resilience, sustainability, reliability, and robustness can all be found in systems and organizational literature dating back decades.

[Fuchs]

Yes, and "kinetic" was a perfectly well-defined physical term until it was turned into a military buzzword. I don't care about non-military, non-security meanings. This is about national security stuff, and I am obviously convinced that "resilience" is a useless buzzword in national security affairs.

You didn't meet my challenge anyway.
Repeat:

I challenge you to name one instance where "resilience" as a concept helps to gain an insight that isn't already covered by conventional means.

So what could the citizens or bureaucrats learn by studying resilience theory about preparing themselves better for the next disaster?

I say: Nothing.


Most citizens of New Orleans fled or became egoistic (on the level of families). The failure can easily be explained with the well-established military term of cohesion.

Even IF the disaster example was helpful to military theory (and I don't think it is, except probably for irregulars); military theory has already a much better, less vague term that points directly at the point of failure instead of being named for a desirable end-state.

[selil]

....I don't care about non-military, non-security meanings...

Well I guess we don't have much to discuss then.

[Beelzebubalicious]

Whether you like the term/concept or not, it's getting a lot of attention in Homeland Security circles. I'm on the outer edge of these circles, but even there, I hear it a lot. Take this new paper, for example:

There is growing interest in the subject of resilience on the part of President Obama’s Administration, as well as lively discussion regarding this issue in academic, business, and governmental circles. This article offers an operational framework that can prove useful to the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) and stakeholders at all levels, both public and private, as a basis for incorporating resilience into our infrastructure and society in order to make the nation safer.

and

In a report to help in transitioning to a new Administration, the importancenof resilience was highlighted by DHS’s Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) as one of the top 10 challenges facing the next Secretary of Homeland Security.1 This emphasis is consistent with the earlier Report of the HSAC Critical Infrastructure Task Force (CITF), which recommended that the Department “promulgate critical infrastructure resilience as the top level strategic objective— the desired outcome—to drive national policy and planning.”2

An Operational Framework for Resilience
Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

[Fuchs]

There's little to gain from fashions that are about symptoms instead of about causes.

[Ken White]

Resilient communities have little need for federal assistance in disaster...

We've been through five hurricanes since I moved to Florida, no Federal or State help to speak of in any of them. We're resilient. And I didn't even know it; I just thought we did what had to be done.

...it has only recently been discovered by military pundits. Resilience, sustainability, reliability, and robustness can all be found in systems and organizational literature dating back decades.

Add redundancy and remove resiliency and I agree.

I have no beef with resiliency per se, problem in my opinion is its discovery and I'm sure impending overuse by the punditocracy.