State and social resilience in the EU's Global Strategy

In this publication, a range of experts sheds light on the different conceptual meanings and policy implications of the notion of resilience that features so prominently in the EU Global Strategy. The authors examine the meaning of resilience in foreign policy terms and outline how it may be applied in specific functional and geographic areas in Europe's neighborhood. Published just before the release of a Joint Communication on resilience by the European External Action Service and the Commission, this second volume in the 'post-EU Global Strategy series' of the Institute of Security Studies of the European Union (EU ISS) is a must read for anyone interested in a broad exploration of the topic of resilience.

In chapter 7 'Horizontal Issues', Erwin van Veen analyses the notion of resilience from the perspective of social-ecology - where it originates - and on the basis of the international community's statebuilding experience of the past two decades. He argues that while the use of fresh language helps learning from the past, proof of utility of the notion of resilience will lie in how innovatively it is used in practice.