Discursive Resilience

This paper will explore the concept of resilience from its roots in ecology to the application of this ecological concept of resilience to social and community resilience in the context of climate change. In this context, resilience is seen as a property of complex adaptive communities rather than of individuals. This paper will explore how this ecological concept of resilience has been taken up both by climate adaptation research and by the Transition Town movement. This ecological concept of resilience is at odds with the individualism of both psychological and economic approaches to resilience in relation to climate change.

Resilience assessments are increasingly used to inform management decisions and development interventions across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In light of current and future climate change and variability, there is growing interest in applying such tools and frameworks to assess and strengthen the climate resilience of smallholder farming systems. However, these assessments are often undertaken without explicit consideration of the resilience thinking in which they are grounded. This makes it difficult to understand how the conceptual aspects of resilience are translating into resilience assessment practice. This paper provides an important first step in tackling this gap, by identifying and using key characteristics of resilience thinking to evaluate existing resilience assessment tools and frameworks and drawing insights for assessing the climate resilience of smallholder farming systems. We find that power, politics, and agency, identified as important in the resilience literature, are not fully incorporated within current tools and frameworks. This leads to inadequate consideration of spatial and temporal trade-offs. We propose six recommendations for assessing the climate resilience of smallholder farming systems in SSA in order to enhance the linkages between resilience theory and practice. These are: (1) better integrate vulnerability and resilience; (2) recognize that resilience does not equal development or poverty reduction; (3) recognize the benefits and limitations of adopting flexible, participatory approaches; (4) integrate issues of power into assessment tools; (5) target specific systems; and (6) encourage knowledge sharing, empirical studies, and critical evaluation. Our findings contribute to improved understanding of applications of resilience thinking to enhance natural resource management.

Recently, the development and humanitarian relief communities have directed attention to building resilience of pastoral communities to droughts and other shocks. While resilience thinking has much to offer, using resilience as a framework for investing in disaster risk reduction and development faces numerous challenges. Development implies that people are actively changing, which poses the question of whether such changes are adaptations or transformations, or whether this is a subjective or academic distinction. The lack of clarity presents a challenge for monitoring resilience-building investments, yet such investments require indicators of impact. We argue that resilience of the system per se is not the primary goal of development and may sometimes be an impediment. We propose an alternative approach to conceptualizing resilience that more accurately reflects the concerns of the humanitarian relief and development communities, one that is based on monitoring resilience of the development process, rather than resilience of a given system.

Social resilience and ecological resilience are related and distinguished, and the potential of social resilience to enhance resilience of encompassing social-ecological systems is discussed. The value of resilience thinking is recognized, yet social resilience needs to be better understood in its distinctive qualities, while resisting identification of social resilience with one particular form of governance or organization. Emerging self-organizing citizen’s initiatives in The Netherlands, initiatives involving re-relating to nature in the living environment, are analyzed, using a systems theoretical framework which resists reduction of nature to culture or vice versa. It is argued that space for self-organization needs to be cultivated, that local self-organization and mobilization around themes of nature in daily life and space have the potential to re-link social and ecological systems in a more resilient manner, yet that maintaining the diversity of forms of knowing and organizing in the overall governance system is essential to the maintenance of social resilience and of diverse capacities to know human-environment relations and to reorganize them in an adaptive manner. Conclusions are drawn in the light of the new Biodiversity Strategy.

Desertification risk, economic resilience and social issues: From theory to practice

The current food system is directly influenced by the increase in environmental problems and nutritional inequality globally. Financial and political collapses, health crises, excessive urbanization, and rapid industrialization are some of the principal factors threatening the food supply's security. The food system needs a profound transformation to avoid ecosystem destabilization and a global food crisis. Concerning this transformation, we are certain that the first step for a successful food system change is global resilience thinking. To reach an integrated food system, we proposed introducing the resilient concept linked with other known concepts, such as circular economy and sustainability. A resilient food system can recover over time, ensuring the supply of sustainable and quality food and access to all. This would mean redesigning the value chains in the food system, re-educating consumers to implement a healthier diet, and introducing technology such as digital innovation. Re-evaluating these relevant points, redesigning the focus of the food system, not only for economic efficiency but also including significant trade-offs, or valuing other services in the food system, are essential to reaching the desired resilience. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Treatment of BRAFV600E melanomas with drugs, such as vemurafenib, that inhibit RAF/MEK signaling is effective in the short term, but remission is not durable. Acquired drug resistance is thought to involve short-term adaptive responses that compensate for RAF/MEK inhibition via up-regulation of other pro-growth mechanisms. Thus, understanding and ultimately preventing adaptive responses is a key to durable therapy. Systematic data comparing BRAFV600E tumor cells is generally lacking and it is not known whether adaptation is fundamentally similar across cell types or among individual cells within a cell population. We apply a systematic approach to studying the responses of human melanoma cell lines to five drugs, RAF and MEK inhibitors, with the overall goal of (i) characterizing variability in adaptation with time, dose, cell type and across individual cells, (ii) discovering new or poorly characterized adaptive mechanisms, and (iii) demonstrating the effectiveness of a high-throughput approach involving multiplex measurement, single-cell analysis and computational modeling. The data involves time-course measurement of total level and activity of signaling proteins and cell state markers using array-based methods and single-cell immunofluorescence assays as well as measurement of apoptosis and cell viability under the same conditions. Statistical modeling using partial least squares regression (PLSR) revealed which of the changes in the ∼200,000 point dataset were phenotypically consequential. We found that responses to RAF inhibitors are remarkably diverse and involve multiple pathways that can be up or down-regulated over time, with significant variability across cell types and individual cells. We identified a role for JNK/c-Jun signaling in altering the cell-cycle distribution of melanoma cells, causing apoptosis-resistant cells to accumulate and drug maximal effect (Emax) to fall; co-drugging with RAF and JNK inhibitors or JUN knockdown reverse this effect. The primary effect of JNK inhibitors is to minimize the cell-to-cell variability in pS6 suppression, promoting the induction of apoptosis. Our study shows that a systems-level approach (combining high density time-dependent measurements, quantitative modeling and single-cell analysis) may provide a general framework for evaluating new drugs with adaptive and paradoxical response, and identifying potentially useful combination therapies. Citation Format: Mohammad Fallahi-Sichani, Nathan J. Moerke, Mario Niepel, Tnghu Zhang, Nathanael S. Gray, Peter K. Sorger. Single-cell analysis of adaptive resistance and fractional responses of melanoma cells to RAF/MEK inhibition. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3744. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3744

Recent health system shocks such as the Ebola disease outbreak have focused global health attention on the notion of resilient health systems. In this commentary, we reflect on the current framing of the concept of resilience in health systems discourse and propose a reframing. Specifically, we propose that: (1) in addition to sudden shocks, health systems face the ongoing strain of multiple factors. Health systems need the capacity to continue to deliver services of good quality and respond effectively to wider health challenges. We call this capacity everyday resilience; (2) health system resilience entails more than bouncing back from shock. In complex adaptive systems (CAS), resilience emerges from a combination of absorptive, adaptive and transformative strategies; (3) nurturing the resilience of health systems requires understanding health systems as comprising not only hardware elements (such as finances and infrastructure), but also software elements (such as leadership capacity, power relations, values and appropriate organizational culture). We also reflect on current criticisms of the concept of resilient health systems, such as that it assumes that systems are apolitical, ignoring actor agency, promoting inaction, and requiring that we accept and embrace vulnerability, rather than strive for stronger and more responsive systems. We observe that these criticisms are warranted to the extent that they refer to notions of resilience that are mismatched with the reality of health systems as CAS. We argue that the observed weaknesses of resilience thinking can be addressed by reframing and applying a resilience lens that is better suited to the attributes of health systems as CAS.

This article examines Indonesia’s autogate policy not only as a digital service innovation, but as a component of immigration system resilience. Drawing on policy implementation theory by Edwards III, Sabatier & Mazmanian, e-government literature on the design reality gap, system resilience thinking, and the information security CIA triad, the study analyses how autogate is designed, regulated, and operated at major international airports. Using a qualitative descriptive approach based on documentary and literature review, it maps legal foundations, organizational arrangements, and technical narratives surrounding automated border control. The findings show that autogate has improved processing times, standardized procedures, and strengthened traceability through digital logs, thereby supporting efficiency, accountability, and internal control. However, recurrent system downtime, biometric errors, incomplete system integration, and heavy dependence on infrastructure reveal significant vulnerabilities in confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. Fragmented governance across immigration, airport operators, cybersecurity, and communications authorities reinforces a design–reality gap, limiting coordination, local ownership, and adaptive capacity. The article concludes that autogate currently functions as a double-edged innovation, symbolizing digital modernization while only partially reinforcing immigration system resilience. It recommends clearer mandates, stronger cross-sector coordination, improved data governance, and investment in human resources and risk-based oversight to align automated border control with a more robust, rights-sensitive model of digital immigration governance.

Conflicts between pastoralism and biodiversity conservation represent a major challenge in the management of protected areas, particularly in Africa where more than 70% of these spaces were affected between 1946 and 2010. This study aims to analyze scientific knowledge on sustainable management strategies that promote coexistence between pastoral activities and wildlife in biosphere reserves. A bibliometric analysis of 2,250 documents from Scopus (1966-2026), conducted using the PICO model and R software, reveals sustained growth in scientific production, especially after 2000. International collaboration reached 40.93%, with an average of 4.38 co authors per article, but remained concentrated in developed countries. The thematic analysis identified four dominant conceptual clusters and highlighted the emergence of regenerative management approaches as an innovative paradigm. Influential publications laid the theoretical foundations of the field. The study highlights a conceptual transformation of the domain, shifting from dichotomous approaches to integrative paradigms of coexistence. It emphasizes the need for a geographical rebalancing of research and the development of transdisciplinary approaches to strengthen the sustainability and resilience of socio ecological systems.

As we stand on the precipice of unprecedented global challenges, understanding the deep-time patterns of sustainability and resilience is no longer just a scholarly endeavour but imperative for the future of our planet and its inhabitants. The collection of papers in this special issue brings together archaeologists, historians, and environmental scientists around four main topics: (1) social-ecological modelling, (2) long-term human-environment interactions, (3) modelling diachronic landscapes and (4) sustainability and resilience from past to future. Our aims are to come to a better understanding of socio-economic resilience and sustainability in past, present and future societies. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, we aim to forge new conceptual frameworks for understanding complex, long-term socio-ecological dynamics. Through the case studies, theoretical reflections and methodological innovations presented here, this special issue seeks to advance interdisciplinary scholarship on sustainability and resilience and offer fresh insights into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in building a sustainable future.

This paper explores the concept of resilience as much more than a personal capacity to overcome adversity. Using reflections from ontology, ethics and epistemology, this paper offers philosophical contextualisation of resilience thinking and the corresponding paradigm shift. It shows that individual resilience depends on a person’s ability to navigate their way to the resources they need for well-being while making multisystemic resources available in ways that are meaningful. Paradoxically, resilience is a consequence of how these multiple systems interact to support positive development and the feedback loops and trade-offs necessary to ensure that a single system’s success does not compromise the resilience of other systems. Five patterns of resilience are discussed, each a viable solution to coping with stress.

With growing concern for the unsustainability of food systems, the international research community has turned its attention to small farms as key actors to potentially face the global food crisis. This study aims to support a policy design that values the diversity of small farms business models vis‐à‐vis environmental, economic, social and institutional challenges affecting European farming systems. Building on the existing classification of five small farm types in the EU, our analysis targets the business model dynamics of small farms in four Euro‐Mediterranean countries: Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. For this analysis, we applied resilience thinking to the Business Model Canvas framework. This innovative conceptual framework allows us to depict the architecture of small farms business models and their role in farming systems. The diversity of small farms business models and their continuous adaptation to changing conditions allows for the identification of a strongly heterogeneous assemblage of farms that contribute to the resilience of food systems at local, regional and multiple other scales.

As the climate crisis accelerates, the resilience of Europe's aging critical infrastructure systems shifts more and more into focus. However, the rising interconnectedness of critical infrastructure systems and the dependency of their operation on multiple stakeholders makes approaches that target the resilience of isolated infrastructures insufficient and might even result in a decrease of the resilience of the whole system. This need for more resilience thinking in interconnected infrastructure systems has resulted in advances in risk analyses of supply chains and analyses of interdependencies in infrastructure systems from a Critical Infrastructure Protection/Resilience perspective. However, results from such analyses on the level of interconnected infrastructure systems have seldomly be broken down to the level of individual corporate value chains, a necessity as national/regional resilience efforts need to be supported on the local level. In this paper we therefore propose a novel approach for value chain climate risk and vulnerability analysis that combines a participatory, indicator-based approach with a semi-quantitative risk matrix approach to allow linking analyses from national to local scale and supports economic assessment of climate change impacts for individual businesses. This approach has been developed and prototypically applied in a case study in a German metropolitan area located at the Rhine River. The results allow to identify where along the dependency chains of interconnected infrastructure systems, hazards and impacts might manifest, which cascading (economic) impacts result on the level of individual infrastructure operators, and where resilience measures should be taken to be most effective and (cost) efficient.

Computational decision framework for enhancing resilience of the energy, water and food nexus in risky environments