Resilient Subjects: Uncertainty, Warfare and Liberalism

40 Pages Posted: 5 May 2010

See all articles by Pat O'Malley

Pat O'Malley

The University of Sydney - Faculty of Law

Date Written: May 4, 2010

Abstract

While resilience has been recognised as a new strand in the government of security, little attention is paid its associated subjectivities and technologies of the self. One of the key sites for such development has been the military. A principal attribute of traditional military subjects has been fortitude, an assemblage of moral strength, will-power and courage deeply inscribed in the soul. In the new military, fortitude is now seen as of only conditional value to the latest configuration of the ‘liberal way of war’. Instead, resilience is centred as appropriate to ‘warriors’, and resonates with an advanced liberal political environment. Resilience appears as a set of cognitive skills that anyone can develop with correct training. Founded in cognitive behavioural therapy, resilience centres innovativeness, enterprise, responsibility and flexibility. It now takes its place as part of a complex of scientifically grounded techniques of the self necessary to optimise autonomous subjects in an age of high uncertainty.

Keywords: resilience, risk, uncertainty, security, government, military

JEL Classification: K10, K30

Suggested Citation

O'Malley, Pat, Resilient Subjects: Uncertainty, Warfare and Liberalism (May 4, 2010). Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 10/39, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1600437

Pat O'Malley (Contact Author)

The University of Sydney - Faculty of Law ( email )

New Law Building, F10
The University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

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