Abstract
As already stated in various work, during the past decades ‘resilience’ experiences an ongoing growing reception in several scientific disciplines as well as in diverse practical-professional and political contexts. In the light of this observation, several researches already undertook examinations of the specific ways in which resilience is being utilized in selected material contexts; however, a systemic-comparative empirical analysis of the utilization of resilience still appears to be necessary—especially with a view to German discourses as an object of research on the one hand and in regard to developing and advancing a profound sociological understanding of resilience on the other hand, which current sociological research on resilience is still lacking of.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
This definition explicitly refers to a definition of resilience introduced by the British Department for International Development that is to say “the ability of countries, communities and households to manage change, by maintaining or transforming living standards in the face of shocks or stresses—such as earthquakes, drought or violent conflict—without compromising their long-term prospects” (2011, p. 6).
- 3.
The presented empirical investigation as well as the analysed material originate from a German speaking context which is why the words in quotation marks are German terms.
- 4.
‘Interaction text’ refers to a broader term of ‘text’ as it includes expressive shapes of all products of social interaction; might that be written documents, videos, items, buildings etc. (Oevermann 2001, p. 40f.). Thereby, especially not standardized, natural or literal interaction texts are suitable for an objective-hermeneutical analysis (Oevermann 1981, p. 46)—such as the chosen paper of Welthungerhilfe.
- 5.
For the sake of preserving a clear overview, proving references which originate from these thirteen documents are exemplary quoted in footmarks in this subsection.
- 6.
Accordingly, the organisation refers to this principle as the glasses of resilience-strengthening (Welthungerhilfe 2018b).
- 7.
In the original document, the German term ‘nachhaltige Ernährungssicherung’ is used which—on the level of latent objective structures of sense—inherently points out to a processual mode, whereas the morphologically related term ‘nachhaltige Ernährungssicherheit’, by comparison, would rather emphasis a more static understanding. A linguistically equivalent differentiation does not exist in the English language use.
- 8.
For a concrete project within which not only coaction on an international but also on a local level is focused see, for example, Maass 2015.
- 9.
This analytically observable linkage is—rather implicitly—even made by the organisation itself, insofar as it states in another document that the strengthening of resilience of prone communities is—in terms of a coaction of emergency aid, reconstruction and development cooperation (potentials of action)—a long term task (framework of action) within which socio-political, natural-space and climatic dangers/hazards have to be considered (perception of disruptive phenomena) (Welthungerhilfe 2018b).
- 10.
At this point it has to be remarked that, in a sense, current resilience research in education science and (developmental) psychology is undergoing a paradigmatic change, insofar as approaches become topical which aim to include a systematic perspective in previous approaches (see, for example, Gabriel 2005 and Fooken 2016). Nevertheless, this is not comparable to the firm systematic lens in (socio)ecology which most likely can be traced back to the respective objective of investigation in the aforementioned two disciplinary fields.
- 11.
In this respect, only the interpretative pattern of the principle of subsidiarity could be cited as a unique feature of the organisation’s (conceptual) understanding of resilience. However, this interpretative pattern rather refers to an ethical guiding principle which is per se characteristic for the field of development policy (see, for example, Kesselring 2006, p. 331 f.). Therefore, it does not appear obvious to emphasise this as a pattern which specifically emerges in the context of the organisation’s understanding of resilience.
- 12.
Social-ecological resilience, ecosystem/ecological resilience and engineering resilience are three concepts of resilience which are central to the (socio)ecological discourse on resilience in genealogical perspective (Folke 2006, p. 259). Essentially, they differ from each other in regard to their respective perspective on the stability respectively equilibration of (resilient) systems (Deppisch 2016, p. 200 f.) which, however, is not further relevant to the argumentation at this point.
References
Blum, S., Endress, M., Kaufmann, S. & Rampp, S. (2016). Soziologische Perspektiven. In R. Wink (ed.), Multidisziplinäre Perspektiven der Resilienzforschung (pp. 151–177). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Bourbeau, P. (2018). On Resilience: Genealogy, Logics, and World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brown, K. (2016). Resilience, development and global change. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.
Chandler, D. (2014a). Beyond neoliberalism: Resilience, the new art of governing complexity. Resilience: International Policies, Practices and Discourses 2 (1), 47–63.
Chandler, D. (2014b). Resilience: The governance of complexity. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.
Christmann, G., Kilper, H. & Ibert, O. (2019). Resilient cities: Theoretical conceptualisations and observations about the discourse in the social and the planning sciences. In B. Rampp, M. Endress & M. Naumann (eds.), Resilience in Social, Cultural and Political Spheres (pp. 121−147). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Department for International Development (2011). Defining disaster resilience: A DFID approach paper. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/186874/defining-disaster-resilience-approach-paper.pdf (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Deppisch, S. (2016). Urbane sozial-ökologische Resilienz. In R. Wink (ed.), Multidisziplinäre Perspektiven der Resilienzforschung (pp. 199–213). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Endress, M. (2014). Interpretive sociologies and traditions of hermeneutic. In M. Staudigl & G. Berguno (eds.), Schutzian Phenomenology and Hermeneutic Traditions (pp. 33–54). Dordrecht: Springer.
Endress, M. & Rampp, B. (2015). Resilienz als Perspektive auf gesellschaftliche Prozesse. In M. Endress & A. Maurer (eds.), Resilienz im Sozialen: Theoretische und empirische Analysen (pp. 33–55). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2012). Katastrophenvorsorge und Anpassung an den Klimawandel: Erfahrungen aus der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit.https://www.bmz.de/de/themen/naturkatastrophen/dokumente_und_links/index.html (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2013). Strategie der entwicklungsfördernden und strukturbildenden Übergangshilfe (ESÜH): Resilienz stärken – Übergänge schaffen. http://www.bmz.de/de/mediathek/publikationen/archiv/reihen/strategiepapiere/Strategiepapier330_06_2013.pdf (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2014). Entwicklung für Frieden und Sicherheit: Entwicklungspolitisches Engagement im Kontext von Konflikt, Fragilität und Gewalt.https://www.bmz.de/de/mediathek/publikationen/reihen/strategiepapiere/Strategiepapier328_04_2013.pdf (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2015). Katastrophenrisikomanagement. Ansatz und Beiträge der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit.https://www.bmz.de/de/mediathek/publikationen/reihen/infobroschueren_flyer/infobroschueren/Materialie267_Katastrophenrisikomanagement.pdf (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2016). Klimawandel – Zeit zu handeln: Klimapolitik im Kontext der Agenda 2030.https://www.bmz.de/de/mediathek/publikationen/reihen/infobroschueren_flyer/infobroschueren/Materialie262_klimaschutz_konkret.pdf (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2017). BMZ Wasserstrategie: Schlüssel zur Umsetzung der Agenda 2030 und des Klimaabkommens.http://www.bmz.de/de/mediathek/publikationen/reihen/strategiepapiere/Strategiepapier404_06_2017.pdf (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Folke, C. (2006). Resilience: The emergence of a perspective for social-ecological systems analyses. Global Environmental Change 16 (3), 253–267.
Fooken, I. (2016). Psychologische Perspektiven der Resilienzforschung. In R. Wink (ed.), Multidisziplinäre Perspektiven der Resilienzforschung (pp. 13–45). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Gabriel, T. (2005). Resilienz: Kritik und Perspektiven. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik 51 (2), 207–217.
Gebauer, T. (2015). Das Paradox der Resilienz.https://www.medico.de/blog/das-paradox-der-resilienz-16607/ (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Gebauer, T. (2016). Resilienz statt Nachhaltiger Entwicklung.https://www.medico.de/resilienz-statt-nachhaltiger-entwicklung-16433/ (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Grassmann, R. (2012). Impulse No. 5: Resilienz. Konzept und Praxis der Welthungerhilfe.http://www.welthungerhilfe.de/ueber-uns/mediathek/whh-artikel/impulse-no5-resilienz.html (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Gunderson, L., Holling, C. & Peterson, G. (2002). Sustainability and panarchy. In L. Gunderson. & C. Holling (eds.), Understanding transformations in human and natural systems (pp. 63–201). Washington: Island Press.
Joseph, J. (2013). Resilience as embedded neoliberalism: A governmentality approach. Resilience: International Policies, Practices and Discourses 1 (1), 38–52.
Joseph, J. (2016). Governing through failure and denial: The new resilience agenda. Millennium: Journal of International Studies 44 (3), 370–90.
Joseph, J. (2018). Varieties of Resilience Studies in Governmentality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kemmerling, B. & Bobar, A. (2018). Viele Krisen, eine Antwort? Zur Nutzbarkeit und Nützlichkeit von Resilienz in entwicklungspolitischen Programmen. In M. Kardiri, M. Schneider & R. Gutwald (eds.), Resilienz: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven zu Wandel und Transformation (pp. 245–265). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Kesselring, T. (2006). Entwicklungshilfe und Entwicklungspolitik aus ethischer Perspektive. In H. Ihne & J. Wilhelm (eds.), Einführung in die Entwicklungspolitik (pp. 323–345). Hamburg: Lit Verlag.
Kühn, M. (2017). COP23: 6 Gründe, warum die Welthungerhilfe dabei ist.https://www.welthungerhilfe.de/aktuelles/blog/cop23-klimawandel-und-hunger/ (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Maiwald, K. (2005). Competence and praxis: Sequential analysis in German sociology. Forum: Qualitative Research 6 (3). http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/21/45 (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Maass, B. (2015). Zwischenevaluation des Projekts ‘Stärkung der Resilienz der von der Krise betroffenen Bevölkerung in der Prefecture Bangui (rural)’.https://www.welthungerhilfe.de/fileadmin/pictures/publications/de/evaluations/2015-evaluation-caf1002-zentralafrikanische-republik.pdf (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Meyen, M. & Schier, J. (2019). The resilience discourse: How a concept from ecology could overcome the boundaries between academic disciplines and society. In B. Rampp, M. Endress & M. Naumann (eds.), Resilience in Social, Cultural and Political Spheres (pp. 105−120). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Oevermann, U. (1981). Fallrekonstruktionen und Strukturgeneralisierung als Beitrag der objektiven Hermeneutik zur soziologisch-strukturtheoretischen Analyse (unpublished manuscript, Frankfurt a. M.). http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/4955 (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Oevermann, U. (2000). Die Methode der Fallrekonstruktion in der Grundlagenforschung sowie der klinischen und pädagogischen Praxis. In K. Kraimer (ed.), Die Fallrekonstruktion (pp. 58–153). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Oevermann, U. (2001). Die Struktur sozialer Deutungsmuster: Versuch einer Aktualisierung. sozialersinn 2 (1), 35–81.
Oevermann, U. (2013). Objektive Hermeneutik als Methodologie der Erfahrungswissenschaften von der sinnstrukturierten Welt. In P. C. Langer, A. Kühner, & P. Schweder (eds.), Reflexive Wissensproduktion: Anregungen zu einem kritischen Methodenverständnis in qualitativer Forschung (pp. 69–98). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Oevermann, U., Allert, T., Elisabeth, K. & Krambeck, J. (1987). Structures of meaning and Objective Hermeneutics. In V. Meja, D. Misgel, & N. Stehr (eds.), Modern German sociology (pp. 436–447). New York: Columbia University Press.
Olsson, L., Jerneck, A., Thoren, H., Persson, J. & O’Byrne, D. (2015). Why resilience is unappealing to social science: Theoretical and empirical investigations of the scientific use of resilience. Science Advances 1 (4).
Przyborski, A. & Wohlrab-Sahr, M. (2014). Qualitative Sozialforschung: Ein Arbeitsbuch (4th rev. ed.). München: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag.
Walker, B., Holling, C., Carpenter, S. & Kinzig, A. (2004). Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society 9 (2).
Weiss, M., Hartmann, S. & Högl, M. (2018). Resilienz als Trendkonzept: Über die Diffusion von Resilienz in Gesellschaft und Wissenschaft. In M. Kardiri, M. Schneider & R. Gutwald (eds.), Resilienz: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven zu Wandel und Transformation (pp. 13–32). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Welthungerhilfe (2018a). Hunger: Verbreitung, Ursachen & Folgen.https://www.welthungerhilfe.de/hunger/ (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Welthungerhilfe (2018b). Resilienz: Gewappnet für die nächste Krise.https://www.welthungerhilfe.de/informieren/loesungen/resilienz/ (accessed on 26 May 2018).
Wernet, A. (2014). Hermeneutics and Objective Hermeneutics. In: U. Flick (ed.): The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (pp. 234–246). Los Angeles/London/New Delhi/Singapore/Washington DC: SAGE.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Research material: Grassmann 2012 (extract) | |
|---|---|
Original version (German) | Translated version (English) |
RESILIENZ Konzept und Praxis der Welthungerhilfe Überblick Der Bedarf an humanitärer Hilfe nimmt weltweit erheblich zu und führt das humanitäre System an die Grenzen seiner Belastbarkeit. … Der steigende Bedarf macht darüber hinaus Maßnahmen erforderlich, die es bedrohten Gemeinschaften ermöglichen, wiederholenden Störungen und langfristigen Belastungen standzuhalten und sich anzupassen. […] Dieser „Impuls“.. gibt Anregungen dazu, was darüber hinaus erforderlich ist, um Resilienz als übergreifendes Ziel in der Humanitären Hilfe und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit zu berücksichtigen. Das Konzept der Resilienz Die Welthungerhilfe verfolgt das Ziel der nachhaltigen Ernährungssicherung. Weil größere Zusammenbrüche von gesellschaftlichen Systemen die Ernährungssicherung in bedrohlichem Maße beeinflussen, wirkt die Welthungerhilfe darauf hin, zumindest die Auswirkungen von Störungen durch politische Konflikte, extremen Naturereignissen und Klimawandel abzufedern. Entwicklungschancen müssen abgesichert und zukünftigen Generationen möglichst viele Entscheidungsoptionen offen gehalten werden. […] Mit Blick auf die Gestaltung von Programmen der Welthungerhilfe bleibt festzuhalten, dass Resilienz als eine strukturelle und dynamische Systemeigenschaft zu verstehen ist. Resilienz zeigt sich an dem Zusammenwirken erkennbarer Elemente eines Systems und der sich daraus ergebenden Dynamik. Soziale Akteure können im System nicht nur die Systemstruktur, sondern auch die Beziehungen innerhalb des Systems und die Wechselwirkungen zwischen verschiedenen Hierarchieebenen beeinflussen. […] Was hat Welthungerhilfe schon getan? […] Die Stärkung von Resilienz erfordert ein langfristiges Engagement im konzeptionellen Zusammenwirken von Nothilfe, Wiederaufbau und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit unter Berücksichtigung von sozio-politischen sowie naturräumlichen und klimatischen Gefahren. … Bei Vorhaben zur Stärkung der Resilienz bedarf es eines interdisziplinären Handelns zum Kapazitätenaufbau von Individuen und Gemeinschaften. … Mit ihrem Positionspapier zur Förderung der Zivilgesellschaft in Partnerländern und in ihrer aktuellen Strategie hat die Welthungerhilfe ihr Bekenntnis zur Zusammenarbeit mit lokalen Partnern bekräftigt. […] Wege zur Stärkung der Resilienz […] Die gefährdete Bevölkerung muss als Protagonist ihrer eigenen Zukunft verstanden und einbezogen werden. […] Forderungen an die internationale Gemeinschaft Die Erkenntnis, dass die Stärkung der Resilienz von bedrohten Gemeinschaften langfristige Ansätze an der Nahtstelle zwischen Humanitärer Hilfe und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit erfordert, ist gereift. … | RESILIENCE Concept and praxis of Welthungerhilfe Overview The demand for humanitarian aid substantially increases on a global scale and leads the humanitarian system up to its breaking point. … In addition to that, this increasing demand necessitates measures which enable threatened communities to withstand and to adapt to repetitive disturbances and long-term burdens. […] This “Impuls”.. gives suggestions concerning what else is required in order to take resilience as an overarching goal in the context of humanitarian aid and development cooperation into account. The concept of resilience Welthungerhilfe pursues the goal of sustainable food security. Since larger collapses of societal system influence food security to a threatening extent, Welthungerhilfe works towards, at least, cushioning the impacts of disturbances caused by political conflicts, extreme natural phenomena and climate change. Development opportunities have to be ensured and preferably many options of development for future generations have to be kept open. […] With view to the configuration of programs of Welthungerhilfe it remains to be noted that resilience has to be understood as a structural as well as dynamic feature of a system. Resilience is observable in regard to the interaction of apparent elements of a system and the dynamic which is consequentially emerges. Social actors in a certain system can not only influence the structures of this system, but also the relations within the system and the interdependencies between different levels of hierarchy. […] What has Welthungerhilfe done already? […] In consideration of socio-political as well as natural-space and climatic dangers, the strengthening of resilience requires a long-term engagement in terms of a conceptual coaction of emergency aid, reconstruction and development cooperation. … In case of initiatives which take the strengthening of resilience into account, it requires interdisciplinary action for the capacity-building of individuals and communities. … Welthungerhilfe has confirmed its commitment to cooperating with local partners in a position paper concerning the promotion of civil society in partner countries and in the course of its current strategy. […] Ways of strengthening resilience […] The endangered population has to be understood and involved as the protagonist of its own future. […] Demands on the international community It has become clear that the strengthening of resilience of threatened communities requires long-term approaches at the interface of humanitarian aid and development cooperation. … |
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Naumann, M. (2019). Utilization of Resilience in German Development Policy—An Objective-Hermeneutical Analysis Exemplified by the Case of Welthungerhilfe. In: Rampp, B., Endreß, M., Naumann, M. (eds) Resilience in Social, Cultural and Political Spheres. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-15329-8_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-15329-8_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden
Print ISBN: 978-3-658-15328-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-658-15329-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)