Abstract
‘Resilience’ is widely used in public policy debate in Australia in contexts as diverse as drought policy, mental fitness in the Australian Defence Force, and in discussion around the Australian economy's performance during the global financial crisis. The following paper provides an overview of the use of the term ‘resilience’ in the academic literature in both the natural and social sciences. The key conclusion from this research is that the term is highly ambiguous, it is used for different purposes in different contexts and in some cases the understandings of the term are diametrically opposed. The malleability of the term suggests that it might be politically risky if employed in policy debate unless clearly defined in each instance
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 31-40 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Australian Journal of Public Administration |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |
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The Multiple Meanings of 'Resilience': An Overview of the Literature. / REID, Richard; BOTTERILL, Linda.
In: Australian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 72, No. 1, 2013, p. 31-40.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - The Multiple Meanings of 'Resilience': An Overview of the Literature
AU - REID, Richard
AU - BOTTERILL, Linda
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - ‘resilience is in danger of becoming a vacuous buzzword from overuse and ambiguity’ (Rose 2007: 384)‘Resilience’ is widely used in public policy debate in Australia in contexts as diverse as drought policy, mental fitness in the Australian Defence Force, and in discussion around the Australian economy's performance during the global financial crisis. The following paper provides an overview of the use of the term ‘resilience’ in the academic literature in both the natural and social sciences. The key conclusion from this research is that the term is highly ambiguous, it is used for different purposes in different contexts and in some cases the understandings of the term are diametrically opposed. The malleability of the term suggests that it might be politically risky if employed in policy debate unless clearly defined in each instance
AB - ‘resilience is in danger of becoming a vacuous buzzword from overuse and ambiguity’ (Rose 2007: 384)‘Resilience’ is widely used in public policy debate in Australia in contexts as diverse as drought policy, mental fitness in the Australian Defence Force, and in discussion around the Australian economy's performance during the global financial crisis. The following paper provides an overview of the use of the term ‘resilience’ in the academic literature in both the natural and social sciences. The key conclusion from this research is that the term is highly ambiguous, it is used for different purposes in different contexts and in some cases the understandings of the term are diametrically opposed. The malleability of the term suggests that it might be politically risky if employed in policy debate unless clearly defined in each instance
KW - Policy
KW - Resilience
KW - Review
U2 - 10.1111/1467-8500.12009
DO - 10.1111/1467-8500.12009
M3 - Article
VL - 72
SP - 31
EP - 40
JO - Australian Journal of Public Administration
JF - Australian Journal of Public Administration
SN - 0313-6647
IS - 1
ER -