Factsheet: Examining Resilience

Recognizing that not all threats or disasters can be averted, some states are turning their attention to efforts that can enhance the flexibility and strength of technical systems and, more recently, of entire societies. States are increasingly debating ways to enhance community or rather local resilience. This attention on the individual role in preparing and responding to emergencies is clearly a new trend that is underlined throughout this report. In addition to examining some current definitions of and conceptual approaches to resilience, this report also highlights the difference between resilience and another commonly used term, redundancy. From there, components of resilience within CI and society, respectively, are addressed followed by some concrete examples of how states, and even international organizations, are incorporating resilience into their security strategies. The final section discusses the role of resilience in Swiss policy and areas where societal resilience in particular could be strengthened.