Das Sicherheitsdispositiv der Resilienz -Die Regierung der Katastrophe und die Biopolitik vitaler Systeme

• Applicant: Dr. Andreas Folkers
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2017 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 396199990

The book manuscript analyzes contemporary rationalities and strategies to prevent and prepare for catastrophic and systemic risks in Germany and the European Union. lt shows how in the last years, analogous perceptions and security practices took hold in various social arenas such as disaster relief, environmental protection, financial market regulation and intemal security. The main thesis of the book is that, since the turn of the century, a new security apparatus - understood as a network of institutions, procedures, forms of knowledge, laws, standards, and technical devices - for the government of catastrophes and systemic risks has emerged, that cuts across inst:itutional boundaries and social subsystems.The security apparatus focusses on high impact, low probability risks such as natural catastrophes, terrorist attacks, technical incidents, pandemics, financial crises, etc. Such risks pose such a big problem to society because of their tendency to have wide ranging, systemic repercussions beyond their immediate impact. Complex socio-technical systems often act as transmitters of shocks so that even minor disruptions can easily escalate to far-reaching disaster situations. Security measures are therefore increasingly applied at the level of Critical Infrastructures and "vital systems" in order to increase their resilience against disturbances and to reduce the risk of contagious effects compromising interdependent systems or system components. Resilience, understood as the ability of systems to successfully cope with adverse events, has thus become a new way to understand and practice security. Resilience is the - not always successful - answer of a society that becomes ever more vulnerable to disturbances because of its increasing complexity and interconnectedness and at the same time vitally depends on the continued functioning of these complex socio-technical systems.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants