Building Local Resilience Potential on a Day‐to‐Day Basis: The Influence of Stakeholder Dynamics and Contextual Factors

The aim of this study is to clarify how and under what conditions an area builds (or fails to build) its resilience potential on a day‐to‐day basis. In this way, it contributes to a better understanding of the influence of the antecedents of resilience (e.g., undesirable events, capacity of stakeholders). We use a multi‐level disaster governance analysis (individuals, organisations, inter‐organisations) to gain a systemic understanding of the dynamics involved in building resilience potential. This is a longitudinal retrospective case study of flood risk management in the Gard department of France. The empirical material consists of 27 semi‐structured interviews (35 h 18 min of recorded tapes) and 133 pages of RETEX from the 2002 flood. The results highlight the influence of three processes and four key competences in the development of resilience potential and the quality of interactions between different levels of stakeholders. They also highlight the factors (ambiguous, inhibiting, favouring) that influence the deployment of key competences and processes. The main limitation is that the study mobilised only one case study. Future research should mobilise multiple cases in order to better contrast and investigate the influence of antecedents of resilience. The study resolutely adopts a systemic approach to the dynamics of resilience and uses a robust multi‐level disaster governance analytical framework with a high explanatory potential for the dynamics underway in local areas. It also provides a number of lessons with managerial implications for local players, while enriching the literature on the antecedents of resilience.