Ethos Perspectives
Social Resilience
Reference 2: "Social Resilience:
The Forgotten Element in Disaster Reduction" by Guy
Sapirstein
Guy Sapirstein, at the Boston-based
Organizational Resilience International, argues that the concept
of "Social Resilience assumes a certain amount of redundancy"
in the social system—when one system fails, other overlapping
social networks, involving the private sector, non-governmental
organisations and other community-based entities can cushion
the impact and help society to continue functioning to speed
up its recovery. Hence, Sapirstein views redundancy capacity
as something which can and should be developed outside of
government, to strengthen the resilience of any society.
In the past, redundancy may exist more readily
where societies were predominantly made up of tight extended
family/community networks. However, with more urbanised societies
and nuclear families today, governments need to play a more
active role in building redundancy in the social system. Sufficient
attention should also be paid to engaging the private sector,
as more critical infrastructure (utilities, ports, supply
chain, internet networks) becomes privately-owned.
Sapirstein, G. Social Resilience: The Forgotten
Element in Disaster Reduction. http://www.oriconsulting.com/social_resilience.pdf
(accessed 6 March 2007)
Efforts by Other Governments
in Building Social Resilience
AUSTRALIA
Reference 3: "Protecting
Australia Against Terrorism 2006" by the Commonwealth
of Australia
To develop "safer and more
resilient communities", Australia's counter-terrorism
policy paper emphasises community engagement and a whole-of-government
emergency management system. Some of its efforts are targeted
at the Muslim community in Australia. Prime Minister John
Howard and Muslim community leaders have issued a joint declaration
to commit to the values and institutions of Australia and
denounce terrorism, intolerance and violence. The government
has also tried to promote inclusion of Muslim communities
in the aftermath of 9/11, through employment initiatives for
young Muslim job seekers, mentoring programmes, counselling
and support helplines. It has also set up of a research centre
for Islamic Studies to "play a leadership role in exploring
the place of Islam in modern society".
To engage the private sector, which owns
and operates a substantial proportion of the country’s
critical infrastructure, Australia set up a Business Government
Advisory Group as a discussion platform to provide businesses
with the tools and knowledge to make informed decisions about
their individual security needs. To harden communities against
attacks, the Commonwealth government has also co-opted local
governments and community self-help organisations into playing
a leading role in local emergency planning and preparations,
including developing response and recovery services by volunteers.
Commonwealth of Australia. Protecting Australia
Against Terrorism 2006. Australia: The Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet, 2006. http://www.pmc.gov.au/
(accessed 24 April 2007)
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