TY - JOUR PY - 2021// TI - Re-examining critiques of resilience policy: evidence from Barpak after the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal JO - Disasters A1 - Rushton, Simon A1 - Balen, Julie A1 - Crane, Olivia A1 - Devkota, Bhimsen A1 - Ghimire, Sudha SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - The concept of 'resilience' has been subject to a number of critiques. In this paper, we examine three of the most common: i) that resilience is a 'top-down' policy discourse that pays too little regard to local specificities; ii) that resilience policy represents a neoliberal shift towards the responsibilization of communities and a retreat of the state from its role in providing protection; and iii) that the focus on resilience tends to divert attention away from the underlying social, political, and economic causes of vulnerability. Using data collected in post-earthquake Nepal from Barpak, the village at the epicenter of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, the District Headquarters, and at the national level in Kathmandu, we argue that these critiques have mixed salience in this particular context, but that the first and third in particular point to important problems in the ways in which the Government of Nepal and its international partners have approached the task of enhancing the resilience of Nepalese communities. We argue that while there are benefits to considering resilience at the community level, it is important to recognise the inequalities within communities, how these might be reflected in differential levels of vulnerability, and how they might be reinforced through resilience building programmes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0361-3666 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/disa.12487 ID - ref1 ER -