Forward Resilience: Protecting Society in an Interconnected World

The notion of ‘resilience’ is gaining currency in European and transatlantic security policy discussions. The EU and NATO are each building the capacity of their member states to anticipate, preempt and resolve disruptive challenges to vital societal functions. The EU and NATO are also exploring ways to work more effectively together in this area.

But is resilience enough to deal with disruptive threats in a deeply interconnected world? In this new study, authors and experts argue that while state-by-state approaches to resilience are important, they are likely to be insufficient in a world where few critical infrastructures are limited to national borders, and where robust resilience efforts by one country may mean little if its neighbor’s systems are weak. They argue not only that resilience must be shared, it must be projected forward, and that traditional notions of territorial security must be supplemented with actions to address flow security – protecting critical links that bind societies to one another.

Click the links below to access papers in the series.

Preface

Executive Summary and Policy Recommendations

Forward Resilience in Context, Tomas Ries

Toward Greater Resilience in Uncertain Regions, David J. Kaufman and Robert L. Bach

Going beyond Static Understandings: Resilience Must be Shared, and It Must Be Projected Forward, Daniel S. Hamilton

Forward Resilience and Enhanced Cooperation: Bringing Theory to Practice, Mark Rhinard and Bengt Sundelius

Resilience Inside and Out: A Finnish Perspective, Axel Hagelstam

Opening the Aperture on Resilience, Hans Binnendijk and Daniel S. Hamilton

The Case for Forward Resilience in the Baltic States, Tomas Ries

Resilience and Alliance Security: The Warsaw Commitment to Enhance Resilience, Lorenz Meyer-Minnemann

Resilience as Part of NATO’s Strategy: Deterrence by Denial and Cyber Defense, Piret Pernik & Tomas Jermalavičius