This study sought to understand lessons UK Defence might draw from other nations' approaches to promoting societal resilience, in order to support and enhance the credibility of the UK's resilience and deterrence posture in a competitive age. The study sought first to define societal resilience, understand why it is important, analyse lessons and good practice from other countries, and identify the lessons that are most relevant to UK Defence.

Enhancing Defence's Contribution to Societal Resilience in the UK

Lessons from International Approaches

Ben Caves, Rebecca Lucas, Livia Dewaele, Julia Muravska, Chris Wragg, Tom Spence, Zudik Hernandez, Anna Knack, James Black

ResearchPublished Oct 21, 2021

Societal resilience, or the ability of societies to rebound from the shock of a crisis such as natural disaster or attack, has emerged as a key priority for governments in recent years. And all signs seem to indicate that these types of events will only increase in frequency, as climate change continues to progress and new and innovative methods of conducting cyber attacks proliferate and change hands. Recognising this trend, the DCDC commissioned this study through the Global Strategic Partnership (GSP) in order to understand lessons UK Defence might draw from other nations' approaches to promoting societal resilience, in order to support and enhance the credibility of the UK's resilience and deterrence posture in a competitive age. The study sought first to define societal resilience, understand why it is important, analyse lessons and good practice from other countries, and identify the lessons that are most relevant to UK Defence.

Key Findings

  • Though a consistent definition is lacking, at its core societal resilience appears to include the ability to absorb and bounce back from a crisis
  • Societal resilience consists of three distinct but overlapping phases: Prepare, Respond and Recover.
  • Resilience has both physical and psychological aspects. While Defence's ability to support physical resilience is clear, the nature of their contribution to psychological resilience is less so.
  • There is a dearth of consistently used, objective metrics to measure societal resilience.
  • Countries have structural differences that have led to their adaptation of different definitions and approaches to societal resilience.

Recommendations

  • Improve civil-military coordination and integration, including more clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
  • Work to build more effective long-term relationships between Defence and national, regional, and local level organisations to support societal resilience planning.
  • Enhance communication at all levels to strengthen trust and understanding between military, other government departments, civilian agencies and the general public.
  • Exercise routinely in different configurations with various partners at local, national and multinational levels.
  • Explore mechanisms of rapid mass and cross-sector mobilisation.

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Citation

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Caves, Ben, Rebecca Lucas, Livia Dewaele, Julia Muravska, Chris Wragg, Tom Spence, Zudik Hernandez, Anna Knack, and James Black, Enhancing Defence's Contribution to Societal Resilience in the UK: Lessons from International Approaches, RAND Corporation, RR-A1113-1, 2021. As of October 10, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1113-1.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Caves, Ben, Rebecca Lucas, Livia Dewaele, Julia Muravska, Chris Wragg, Tom Spence, Zudik Hernandez, Anna Knack, and James Black, Enhancing Defence's Contribution to Societal Resilience in the UK: Lessons from International Approaches. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2021. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1113-1.html.
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This research was prepared for the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) within the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and conducted by RAND Europe.

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