ABSTRACT
Resilience, as a framework informing governance, relies on an ontology of emergent complexity.
This chapter analyses how complexity operates not only as a critique of liberal modes of ‘top-
down’ governing but also to inform and instantiate resilience as a postmodern form of govern-
ance. In so doing, resilience approaches develop upon and transform neoliberal conceptions
of complex life as a limit to liberal governance and directly critique the policy-frameworks of
‘actually existing neoliberalism’, which seeks to govern complexity ‘from below’. Whereas
actually existing neoliberalism focuses governmental regimes on the ‘knowledge gaps’ seen as the
preconditions for successful policy-outcomes, resilience asserts a flatter ontology of interactive
emergence, where the knowledge that needs to be acquired can only be gained through self-
reflexive approaches. This distinction will be illustrated by drawing upon recent UK government
policy documents relating to the National Adaptation Programme to make the UK resilient to
climate change.
