The Vulnerability of Europe’s Civil Resilience

The war in Ukraine has shattered the illusion that security can be confined to military capabilities alone. A nation’s ability to survive a protracted crisis depends as much on its civil preparedness as on its armed forces. Civil resilience—defined as the capacity of a society to maintain essential functions under stress—has emerged as a decisive component of deterrence. Across much of Western Europe, this dimension has atrophied after decades of peace and complacency. Governments dismantled civil defence structures, industries optimized for efficiency rather than redundancy, and citizens lost the habit of preparedness. When large-scale war returned to the continent, it revealed how unprotected Europe’s societies had become against disruptions of energy, infrastructure, and information. A continent that cannot guarantee heat, communication, or healthcare to its population cannot credibly claim to deter aggression. Civil resilience, long dismissed as a Cold War relic, has re-emerged as a central pillar of national and collective security.