ABSTRACT
The overemphasis on self-reliance, which is a misguided translation of self-organisation in complex systems, resonates closely with the neoliberal mentality and its emphasis on individualisation of responsibility. Indeed, it is this ideological fit with neoliberal mentality which has made resilience a favourable concept in public policy. The overemphasis on self-reliance overlaps with the liberal view of society and the place of the individual within it. The appropriation of resilience by the neoliberal agenda has turned the concept into a measure of the fitness of people and places to survive in the turbulent world; reiterating "the Darwinian law of natural selection and its interpretation as the survival of the fittest". The evolutionary conceptualisation of resilience is now advocated by the Resilience Alliance as a general systems theory which can integrate society, economy and ecology. Hence, the notion of resilience has been extended beyond its engineering and ecological roots into the realm of society.
