Samenvatting

Finding themselves in an ideological competition with Russian nationalism and extreme Islamic jihadism, European societies need to mobilise their moral resources to provide themselves with the sense of purpose necessary to face down and neutralise the influence of current threats. The ambition of this chapter is to explore if and how Western societies can mentally arm themselves against such threats and whether the concept of resilience can play a role in this. Two options present themselves. The isolationist option aims at closing off society from outward threats and maintaining the status quo. The other option sees resilience as renewal. This one lends itself as a useful interpretative framework to further study of the resilience of the home front as a contribution to deterrence. It seeks to influence the international context in such a way that the core values of society are thought anew, modernised or made to work in a new context.