Introduction

In the aftermath of the attack on the US on 11 September 2001, government called upon experts to explain why mass trauma did not occur. If humans have the capacity for resilience, can resilience be harnessed to prevent traumatic responses both in civilian and military contexts? In the introduction to Resilience; Militaries and Militarization, the editors trace the way in which the concept of resilience has entered social imaginaries and travelled across disciplines from psychology to security. The contributors argue that with the introduction of positive psychology in the US military, resilience has become militarized and negatively impacts psyches, family life and spirituality. While resilience has emerged as a strategy of neoliberal governance, there may be possibility for developing its positive potentiality in community relations