Resilience as a failed concept: The militarization of intimate lives

This chapter argues that resilience is a failed concept, both practically and conceptually. My discussion focuses on the programs introduced in the US military in response to the post-9/11 wars, Comprehensive Soldier Fitness and Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness. The problems I highlight are emblematic of more general criticisms of the concept: it presents an ideal individual who is capable of infinitely adapting to crisis and risk; it implies there are universal, one-size fits all solutions. More nuanced approaches to war acknowledge the complexity of context, changes in responses over time, and that recovery is a process. Working with the notion of failure in discussions of governmentality and ideology critique, I analyze how the failure of resilience has contributed to the militarization of intimate relations.