VII. Resilience
Definition of Resilience
Resilience is commonly understood as the underlying ability to withstand or overcome (abrupt) crises and shocks and thus maintain essential functions. Resilience is an essential basis for credible deterrence and defence. NATO considers strong societies as the first line of defence, and as a necessity for a successful military operation. As today's societies are highly complex systems based on the functioning of critical infrastructures, societal resilience, as a cross-cutting aspect of all elements of resilience, became the new focus of NATO’s resilience agenda.
Despite this focus NATO does not have an official definition of resilience yet. There is a basic agreement on what resilience means for NATO, though. In the AJP 3.19 resilience is defined as: “[…] the ability of an entity to continue to perform specified functions during and after an attack or an incident.” (AJP 3.19/1.12)
The following graphic developed by ACO illustrates this. Resilience in this context is an adaptive process in which the system's performance is defined by absorbing strategic shocks with minimal impact (Capacity Gap). At the same time, essential functions of the system are maintained at a sufficient level to restore functionality in a reasonable time (t1) and at a reasonable cost. While preparation for strategic shocks is integral, these shocks are usually unpredictable and unavoidable. Therefore, a resilient system focuses specifically on managing the consequences of a shock and isolating the event from the function of the overall system. In the final phase, the system evolves and adapts, increasing its capacity (capacity increase) to withstand future similar strategic shocks.[1] In several speeches, articles and lectures, the final phase described above is strikingly formulated as the "bounce back" effect. [2] This term is taken from the general resilience literature.[3]
Figure 7.1 NATO’s strategic resilience concept
Source: ACO Interim Direction and Guidance for Resilience through Civil Preparedness
Therefore, the working definition is: “Resilience refers to the ability of a society to withstand strategic shocks and to recover easily and quickly from them. Resilience combines civil and societal emergency preparedness as well as military capabilities”.
[1] Allied Command Operations, 2019, p. 7
[2] Roepke, Thankey, 2019, pp. 2-8.; Stoltenberg, 2020, p. 3; CCOE, 2018, p. 5
[3] Smith et al., 2010, p. 194