THE PHENOMENON OF "STRATEGIC LOCALISATION" AS A CONSEQUENCEOF THE "RESILIENCE TURN" IN THE EUROPEAN DISCOURSE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2292.2025/2-61/131-138Keywords:
resilience, security, decentralisation, hybrid threats, discourse, EU, cross-sectoral governanceAbstract
Abstract
Introduction. The article examines the phenomenon of “strategic localisation” as a consequence of the “resilience turn” in European discourse in 2014–2023, when under the impact of unprecedented hybrid threats the central governments of EU member states demonstrated limited capacity for effective crisis response. This has shifted the focus of crisis governance towards the principles of risk-management decentralisation, subsidiarity, and localisation of decisions. The term “strategic localisation” is proposed to describe this process. The Ukrainian discourse, shaped under wartime conditions, complements this shift with a decisive networked component of horizontal community interaction.
Methods. Comparative analysis was applied to juxtapose European and Ukrainian discourses; discourse and content analysis of strategic documents and academic works; a historical-comparative approach to trace the evolution of concepts in 2014–2023; and experimental simulation modelling to identify communicative vulnerabilities of resilience at the local level and to test formats of interaction.
Results. The study recorded the consolidation of “resilience” as an organizing principle of crisis governance; the EU trend towards delegating crisis-management decisions to local actors; and the specific feature of Ukraine in the networked dimension of local interaction under wartime pressure. Simulation research confirmed the effectiveness of permanent cross-sectoral formats and the “whole-of-society” approach. It was found that both European and Ukrainian approaches are oriented towards localisation and decentralisation, while the distinctive feature of Ukraine is the phenomenon of networked interaction as a critical condition for survival and security. The emergence of “strategic localisation” was outlined, though without final institutionalization.
Conclusions. The local level of governance becomes a catalyst of crisis policy and a key security node. “Strategic localisation” describes a new configuration of distributed responsibility relevant to European security and to Ukraine’s resilience practices.
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