Talk given by David Steven at Gresham College on risk and resilience in the UK housing market, as part of a Long Finance Roundtable meeting (March 2010)
Report by David Steven in response to the FSA’s Mortgage Market Review
Brookings Institution report by Alex Evans, Bruce Jones and David Steven on how globalisation could fail – and how it could be made more resilient. Published to coincide with the 40th anniversary World Economic Forum in Davos.
Report by Alex Evans and David Steven analysing the post-Copenhagen context on climate change, including a proposed 12 point action plan. Written for the Brookings Institution / NYU Center on International Cooperation Managing Global Insecurity programme.
World Food Programme report on the state of the science on what climate change means for hunger, plus policy recommendations. Authored by IPCC Impacts Chair Martin Parry with Mark Rosengrant, Tim Wheeler and Global Dashboard’s Alex Evans (December 2009)
Presentation by Alex Evans to a seminar organised for the UN Department of Political Affairs by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (August 2009)
Article on risk and resilience by Alex Evans and David Steven – part of a special in World Politics Review on risk and resilience in a globalized age (July 2009)
Report by Alex Evans and David Steven exploring the future international institutional requirements for managing climate change, and including three scenarios for climate institutions between now and 2030. Commissioned by the UK Department for International Development. (May 2009)
Article by Alex Evans and David Steven exploring resilience as a political agenda – part of a special edition of Renewal on the transformation of foreign policy (February 2009)
Climate and cities think piece, co-authored by David Steven and the British Council’s Peter Upton (29 January 2009)
Chatham House pamphlet by Alex Evans on how scarcity issues will shape the outlook for global food production, and the actions that policymakers need to take at the international level and in developing countries to ensure food security in the 21st century
Paper by David Steven, presented to “Reforming International Institutions – Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century,” a conference organized by the United Nations University and the British Embassy in Tokyo (Jan 2009).
Speech by Alex Evans at the Tomorrow Network (25 November 2008)
Paper by Alex Evans and David Steven on financial reform and wider multilateralism, published ahead of the G20 ‘Bretton Woods II’ Summit (November 2008).
Speech by David Steven to RUSI Conference on UK Resilience (8 October 2008)
Chapter by Alex Evans and David Steven in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office publication, ‘Engagement: public diplomacy in a globalised world’ (July 2008).
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Draft report by Alex Evans exploring multilateral system reforms needed in order to manage resource scarcity issues more effectively. The final version will be published in early 2010 (July 2008)
Speech by Alex Evans at UK Parliament (8 July 2008)
Speech by David Steven at the UNU G8 Symposium (4 July 2008)
Speech by Alex Evans to United Nations Association UK (7 June 2008)
Speech by David Steven to the UK Defence Academy’s Advanced Research and Assessment Group seminar on Strategic Communications, Public Diplomacy and Afghanistan (4 June 2008).
Speech by David Steven to the University of Westminster Symposium on Transformational Public Diplomacy (30 April 2008).
Briefing paper by Alex Evans, published through Chatham House’s food programme (April 2008).
Speech by David Steven to RUSI Conference on Critical National Infrastructure (16 April 2008).
Paper by Alex Evans and David Steven, commissioned by Gordon Brown and presented to heads of state at the Progressive Governance Summit (April 2008).
Chapter by Alex Evans and David Steven, as part of the British Council’s Transatlantic Network 2020 book ‘Talking Trans-Atlantic’ (March 2008).
Article by Alex Evans for the Environmental Policy & Law Journal (January 2008).
Report by Alex Evans and David Steven, written for the London Accord (December 2007).
New paper by Alex Evans on climate policy after 2012 from the Center on International Cooperation (October 2007).
Chapter on the FCO from Manchester University Press’s Alternative Comprehensive Spending Review, by David Steven (September 2007).
Note by Alex Evans and David Steven about how to restructure the UK’s foreign policy system in order to manage trans-boundary global risks better (April 2007).
Talk given by David Steven at the Wilton Park conference: The Future of Public Diplomacy. Focuses on strategies to drive public diplomacy to the heart of the foreign policy armoury (March 2007).
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Perhaps the content of the ‘National Service’ would need to be quite carefully considered to get maximum value from it and in order that participants are appropriately trained . Would it be fitting for these young people to reflect also on citizenship, even global citizenship? Further, might they do some preventative community work as well, such as putting old railway lines back into place and getting disused canels working again? But I think learning the basics for keeping a community functioning and safe in a crisis would be good knowledge to have.
Jules,
1) We need to train a generation of young people how to deal with crises, whether that’s food riots, race riots, or extreme weather. They will have to be physically and mentally tough, resilient and disciplined.
There are a number of initiatives up and down the country on resilience – and which are being supported by central and local government: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/_doc/12843/Beacon%20workshop%20on%20emergency%20planning%20v2.pdf
2) In general, we need to instill a war-time discipline into the country if it is going to cope with a drastic reduction in our quality of life.
What on earth do you mean by war-time discipline?
3) We need a bigger domestic emergency force.
No we don’t. Our domestic emergency force is massive and arguably runs into the millions – most of us however only tend to see the tip of the iceberg however.
4) We may need a bigger external defence force as well.
No we don’t. We need a similar / slightly smaller force that is more lethal. However we also need a SysAdmin force that does everything else.
(Thought you Prospect piece was brilliant)
Hi there,
OK, im all for resilience training – and a national service, i think, would be the best place to do it.
By war-time discipline, I mean the discipline and cohesion that the UK showed during WWII, to accept rationing, to pull together for a common cause, and to be quick to help our neighbours cope when their house is destroyed, for example.
Basically, when the priority of your life switches from pursuing your own individual well-being to pursuing the well-being and survival of your society.
So you don’t think our domestic emergency forces need to be enlarged at all to deal with climate change in the coming decades? That’s a relief.
Wasn’t my piece in Prospect. I have written for them in the past, but I write as Jules Evans to distinguish myself from the literary critic, Julian Evans, who also confusingly sometimes writers about eastern Europe.
But I see that Prospect made the idea of a national civic service its cover story this month. This from the piece, by Frank Field and James Crabtree:
“We are proposing the introduction of a mandatory national citizenship service programme. Every British young person, aged 16 to 25, should be paid a modest amount—perhaps around the minimum wage—to spend at least six months, and preferably a full year, working on projects supporting Britain’s children, the sick and elderly, the environment, and international development. Properly designed, such a scheme could help to reduce youth unemployment, answer many social needs that are not met by either the market or existing public services, and provide young people with structure, rites of passage, the opportunity to serve and the chance to move beyond the limited horizons in which they were born.”
Kind of just following Obama’s initiative by the looks of it, but a good idea nonetheless.
No mention of using this national civic service to cope with the impact of climate change in the article, but that seems the obvious use of it in future decades.
All the best,
Jules
Jules,
I may have over-analysed your last comment but I took your point about war time discipline to mean such a discipline doesn’t exist at the present – and furthermore we need a major shock (a major threat in the case of WWII)to rally around and catalyse us into action. As has been proven countless times in past emergencies (big and small) in the UK (and certainly in the last 5 years) we do look to help others – yes there are isolated cases (like the two elderly women who drowned in Carlisle in 2005) but actually we (society) are pretty bloody good when it comes to supporting each other. These issues and more are the subject of my next pamphlet ‘Resilient Nation’.
And no I don’ think the emergency services do need to be enlarged – they’re pretty big as it goes…rather its how society prepares for climate change that will be more important (like not building on flood plains for example). A Resilient Nation by definition means you don’t have to spend vast amounts on emergency services.
“fascist military state”? Surely ‘authoritarian’
Issues:
1. Motivation: an unmotivated NS would be a waste of time because it would achieve very little and cost a LOT. These people have to be doing something that is useful and interesting to them. From personal experience even with fantastic opportunities many people just don’t care. Frequently the whole thing resembles scenes from “Platoon”. Motivated teachers are essential as is a removal of the comfort zone though how this would be logistically/financially possible is beyond me.
2. Facilities: are there really the teachers/trainers and facilities for a whole generation? It often seems like there isn’t enough just now in education. Perhaps making the NS youths actually build their facilities would be useful but I can’t see a country-wide scheme working without a huge amount of planning and training beforehand.
3. Bigger external defence force? Well a more efficient, less tribalised military would help. I think the Armed Forces are actually about the right size but are being used incorrectly. Instead a focus on internal defence and community resilience would make more sense to me.
4. War Time discipline? Does this mean we’ll see you calling for radical welfare reform? Without wanting to get too Daily Telegraph if you’re calling for people to ready themselves for a harsher future then welfare is one of the things that will have to change right away.
Personally I’d advise foreign national service in small groups in VERY poor areas for all this. Work in somewhere like India for something (old colonies are probably best). Let them combine a trade and charity, i.e. doing building/plumbing etc. to create homes for slum dwellers or sanitation for rural people. Provide certificates of actual use (i.e. half NS, half apprenticeship), the possibility of being hired as a trainer etc. Using this as a replacement for the overcrowded University system would also be good. I’d very much advise that the NS be bulked out with English-speaking locals from whatever the host country is.
“Personally I’d advise foreign national service in small groups in VERY poor areas for all this.”
The last thing developing countries need – us to export our surplus labour to them!
Working again from personal experience that is why you use people from the host country. A mix of local and British trainers/workers. Not only does it increase the cultural experience but it makes sure you aren’t accidentally pricing the locals out completely.
In many areas too the work being done could never be paid for and therefore you’re providing a service and employment that otherwise would not exist. Its hardly perfect and it would need checking on a case-by-case basis but as a general rule it should work.
Guy – ‘Armed Forces are actually about the right size but are being used incorrectly. Instead a focus on internal defence and community resilience’ WTF?! We’re not bloody Italy.
In terms of manpower the Armed Forces seem generally correct unless of course if we want to start up some hare-brained foreign policy. The comments about internal defence and resilience were (my mistake) related to the idea of NS than the Armed Forces themselves.
Sorry Jules, but I didn’t like this post at all:
http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2009/03/Did-‘resilience’-just-jump-the-shark.aspx
A response to Sam here.
Hi Sam,
Better to provoke a strong reaction – positive or negative – than no reaction at all.
Personally, I think you’re being too ideological. It’s not about saying ‘hey, I’m a libertarian, so resilience is groovy cos it fits with my beliefs’. Resilience is about how communities survive with serious external or internal threats, and sometimes, you just need a bit of top down coordination to cope with such threats – as with for example the UK’s resilience in the face of Nazi expansionism.
Australia is going to have an extremely difficult time coping with climate change, in terms of shortage of food, water and electricity. You as an individual may cope with those challenges in a libertarian fashion, but i really don’t understand how Australia as a state could cope with those challenges on a state level in a libertarian way. But maybe im missing something – enlighten me.
Finally, the idea that ‘resilience’ could ‘jump the shark’ is as bizarre as saying ‘did courage jump the shark’ or ‘did patience jump the shark’. Resilience is a virtue, one we always need. If you’re referring to the ‘resilience movement’ – if there is such a thing, then I’m no part of it, Im just a humble blogger.
All the best
Jules
Please note the following amendments to my last paragraph:
“Chopping this up and then categorizing it into essential and non-essential skills for our youth might be the best way forward” should have read:
“Chopping this up and categorizing the elements according to essential/non-essential skills required to conduct them, may be a way forward to deciding which aspects could be useful for adolescents to be informed of.”
Apologies.