ABSTRACT
The chapter presents the three definitions of resilience: as an engineering concept, derivative of complex systems theory and as a metaphor. It considers the implications of this shift in policy focus by subjecting the concept of resilience, and what it implies for the understandings of terrorism, to critical scrutiny. If risk was the policy and political hallmark of the first decade of the twenty-first century in relation to terrorism, as the second decade has unfolded, that same policy and political agenda is being increasingly informed by the concept of resilience. Walker and Cooper intimates the links between resilience and vulnerability that focus the attention on the vulnerability suggest, the ability to prepare for and adapt to affords resilience an unpredictable edge. In Britain and arguably elsewhere, resilience creep has taken on a particular flavor. Rather than being incapacitated by fear, economically deprived communities relations foster the conditions for the maintenance of resilience.
