The world today has set itself the goal of improved adaptation, preparedness and alertness in the face of global change. Rapid and drastic global changes have prompted the political and social scientific use of ‘resilience’. In social scientific scholarship to date, resilience is presented as an answer to and a necessity in dealing with the current unpredictability. By developing resilience, it is claimed, individuals and communities can avoid the worst-case scenarios deriving from uncertainty and be prepared to cope with the unknown.

In the midst of the upsurge of resilience, its fundamental premises have remained understudied: How does resilience order society? The Nordic network Politics and Power of Resilience explores this question. With funding from the Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS), the network has organised a series of exploratory workshops in 2023-2024. The workshops gathered researchers from different career stages to debate resilience and its emergence in Nordic discussions on politics, security, economy and, for example, welfare.

The founding partners of the network include Marjo Lindroth, Julian Reid and Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen from the University of Lapland, Claes Tängh Wrangel from Swedish Defence University and Frank Sejersen from the University of Copenhagen.

The aim of POWERS is to develop multidisciplinary critical discussion on resilience and its power effects in the Nordic context.