Alice Koubová: ”Resilience in Democracy”

ABSTRACT:

In the context of the current polycrisis, Andreas Reckwitz suggests that instead of emphasizing progress, Western liberal democracies should cultivate resilience. There are many subtle distinctions behind this aspiration, the terrain of which I will try to map in my talk for the purpose of our joint discussion. I will begin by showing the differences in the approaches to resilience in psychology and social ecology, and how they contribute to thinking about democratic society. I will also distinguish between resilience in the sense of preserving an institutional core and resilience in the sense of a system of interpersonal relations that can cope with unpredictability and loss. I will describe how the resilience perspective overcomes the duality of strength and weakness, and how the emphasis on restoration and flourishing under non-ideal conditions contrasts with the teleology of constant progress and growth. Finally, I will mention potential pitfalls in the resilience discourse that need to be considered.