Governing Through Resilience? Exploring Flood Protection in Dresden, Germany

Abstract

The paper argues for a governmentality perspective on risk-management politics and resilience-related governance. This perspective pays ample attention to conflicts and discursive 'battles' in which different truths and normative assessments, including specific rationalities, subjectivities and technologies of governing compete against. Up to now, the literature on governmentality and resilience has mainly been based on empirical research in the UK. This research highlights the growing importance of neoliberal forms of governing, including a shift in governing strategies towards activating and responsibilizing the public. This is to some extent in contrast to observations about dealing with flood risk on the river Weisseritz in Dresden. The paper reflects on possible avenues for further conceptual and empirical research on 'governing through resilience' in the context of flood protection in Germany. It is based on a brief conceptualization of 'governmentality' as introduced by Michel Foucault, a literature review, and selected observations from a case study on flood protection for the river Weisseritz in Dresden.

Ecosystem Perceptions in Flood Prone Areas: A Typology and Its Relationship to Preferences for Governance

“…In building upon it, there are opportunities to pursue the use of mental models through other techniques to more fully understand how individuals think about floods and therefore act, as broadly identified in natural resources management by Jones et al [18]. The call for undertaking context-specific investigations of resilience and flood governance by Hutter et al [54] that takes into account multiple rationalities and changing modes of governmentality, is supported and informed by this work. Masud [57] observes that human dimensions (knowledge, values, interests) are often identified in disaster management but the process by which they are brought together is underdeveloped.…”

“…It also suggests that a myriad of other influences shape the outlook on flood governance. Support for this conjecture comes from the recent work on governing through resilience in relation to flood protection by Hutter et al [54]. Stemming from their application of the governmentality to resilience and flood risk management they urge broad empirical investigations that are context specific.…”

A media framing analysis of urban flooding in Nigeria: current narratives and implications for policy

“…Contemporary discussions around flooding are often characterised by considerable debate and, sometimes, conflict (Hutter et al 2014). Fundamental to these debates or discursive 'battles' are questions over whether anthropogenic or climate-related factors are the root cause of flooding (Texier 2008;Thompson and Warburton 1985) and illustrate the potentially complex interactions between human and the environment.…”

How to make them walk the talk: governing the implementation of energy and climate policies into local practices

“…Second, Foucault links power to subjectivation by examining how technologies of domination and technologies of the self are interwoven. Within the field of geography, this perspective has been taken up most prominently in studies of recent neoliberal transformations in cities (Dzudzek, 2016;Mattissek, 2008;Michel, 2005;Rosol, 2013) but has recently also been used to analyse power relations and processes related to environmental issues (Agrarwal, 2005;Rutherford, 2007;Bues and Gailing, 2016;Hutter et al, 2014). Technologies of government can then be seen as specific combinations of these two different forms of power.…”