Resilience - governance and in/security in interconnected societies

The document argues that in interconnected societies, security is no longer a state of protection but an emergent process of activity. It posits that resilience has become a way of governing where insecurity is accepted as unavoidable, shifting the focus from predicting risk to developing a 'know-how-to-respond'. The author highlights the role of digital technologies in creating 'interconnection ecosystems' and facilitating self-organization through the 'crowd', while distinguishing between resilience as a general principle and resilience as a prescriptive program of control.

• Resilience is framed as a universal response to shocks because insecurity is viewed as an unavoidable result of radical relationality, meaning it can no longer be excluded from society using risk technologies.
• The governance of security has shifted from an attempt to make future disruptions known via risk assessment to a focus on 'know-how-to-respond', with algorithmic analysis and patterns serving as the new epistemological authority for planning responses.
• In an interconnected world, security is redefined as an emergent process or activity rather than a state of being protected, and can only be established after a disruption has occurred.
• Digital technologies transform emergency management by mediating the relationship between planners, recipients of help, and the 'crowd', while the internet is viewed as an 'interconnection ecosystem' that justifies resilience-based governance.
• The author proposes a distinction between resilience as a 'principle', which allows for some restricted agency in how an insecure subject enacts security, and resilience as a 'program', which acts as a form of control over the conduct of disaster populations.

APA

Kaufmann, M. (2016). Resilience - governance and in/security in interconnected societies. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://www.prio.org/publications/9010

Chicago

Kaufmann, Mareile. Resilience - governance and in/security in interconnected societies. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2016. https://www.prio.org/publications/9010.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kaufmann |first1=Mareile |title=Resilience - governance and in/security in interconnected societies |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2016 |url=https://www.prio.org/publications/9010 |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kaufmann2016resilience, author = {Kaufmann, Mareile}, title = {{Resilience - governance and in/security in interconnected societies}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2016}, url = {https://www.prio.org/publications/9010}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }