The emergence of the resilient subject: crisis interaction between state and society

Abstract

The ecological concept of resilience means the ability of the system to adapt aftershocks. During recent decades, it has been transferred to the social sciences, including the theory of international relations. At the same time, studies of the crisis resilient subject are characterized by an excessive focus on the grassroots civil society initiatives and stigmatization of the governmental component. Building upon the ideas of German political philosopher C. Schmitt, the author proposes an alternative conceptualization of the emergence of a resilient subject. This model includes the sovereign’s Decision, new social normality after the Decision and the public response to it as the key parts. The comparative analysis of news reports is a methodological basis of this research with two natural disasters (Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans 2005 and the Haiti earthquake of 2010) and two series of terrorist attacks (in Barcelona and the United Kingdom in 2017) being the case studies. Special attention to the role of critical infrastructure and fluctuations of public order makes it possible to describe the central place of the governmental component inside the emerging resilient subject. Moreover, a high degree of state capacity in the field of technocratic administration cannot guarantee the emergence of the resilient subject during the crisis. It is impossible to cope with the system challenges without the effective interaction between state and society.