Is Resilience a Good Concept in Terrorism Research? A Conceptual Adequacy Analysis of Terrorism Resilience

Abstract

Resilience has been suggested as a unifying concept in terrorism research. This article investigates the conceptual adequacy of resilience applied to terrorism. The framework for criteria for conceptual adequacy was applied on the academic literature that deals with the meaning of terrorism resilience. The conclusion of this study is that at its current state resilience serves more the role of cultural metaphor than that of a well-developed scientific concept. The almost endless definitions of resilience and lack of coherence in the descriptions of attributes is a warning signs to terrorism researchers that, if not careful with its usage, the resilience concept can end up more as a utopian goal than an actual means for countering terrorism.