Beyond neoliberalism: resilience, the new art of governing complexity

TLDR

Resilience as a governance framework is grounded in an ontology of emergent complexity, contrasting neoliberal focus on knowledge gaps with a flatter, self‑reflexive approach to governing complexity. The article analyzes how complexity critiques liberal top‑down governance and informs resilience as a postmodern governance form. The authors illustrate this by showing how resilience approaches transform neoliberal conceptions of complex life, critique existing policy frameworks, and apply these insights to recent UK government practices.

Abstract

Resilience, as a framework informing governance, relies on an ontology of emergent complexity. This article analyses how complexity operates not only as a critique of liberal modes of 'top-down' governing but also to inform and instantiate resilience as a postmodern form of governance. In so doing, resilience approaches develop upon and transform neoliberal conceptions of complex life as a limit to liberal governance and directly critique the policy frameworks of 'actually existing neoliberalism', which seeks to govern complexity 'from below'. While actually existing neoliberalism focuses governmental regimes on the 'knowledge gaps' seen as the preconditions for successful policy outcomes, resilience asserts a flatter ontology of interactive emergence where the knowledge which needs to be acquired can only be gained through self-reflexive approaches. This distinction will be illustrated by drawing upon recent UK government policy practices and debates.