The limits of “resilience”: Relationalities, contradictions, and re-appropriations

Abstract

The concept of “resilience” is ubiquitous in global governance, extending from climate and ecological issues to practically all spheres of human endeavor. However, post-pandemic discourses suggest that the concept may no longer be capable of synthesizing diverse and diverging geopolitical interests into common policy goals. Responding to what we see as an emerging “crisis of resilience,” we reconsider the utility of the concept and advance “irresilience” as its critical relational “other.” We argue that to make resilience meaningful in a “polycrisis,” it is necessary to think about it dialectically and consider how it is undermined by the very actors that evangelize it. This article is categorized under: International Policy Framework > Policy and Governance Climate, History, Society, Culture > Disciplinary Perspectives The Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Knowledge and Practice Climate and Development > Sustainability and Human Well-Being.