Between Stability and Chaos Volume 2: Competitiveness and Resilience in Contemporary States

This is the second volume in the "Between Stability and Chaos" series. The first can be found here: Between Stability and Chaos: The State in the Face of 21st Century Political and Economic Challenges.Contemporary states operate in an increasingly uncertain environment shaped by geopolitical tensions, economic volatility, technological change, and profound social transformations. Recent crises have revealed the fragility of many political and economic systems. The COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, escalating tensions in the Middle East, the energy crisis, inflationary pressures, migration flows, cyber threats, and disruptions to global supply chains have shown that economic prosperity alone is insufficient to guarantee stability. These developments unfold alongside a profound transformation of the international order. The diffusion of power within the global system, the strategic rise of China, the resurgence of great-power competition, and the increasing fragmentation of multilateral institutions have reshaped the external environment for state development and security. In this context, state competitiveness refers to the ability of a state to maintain and strengthen its position in an increasingly contested international environment. Such competitiveness is not determined by economic performance alone. It also reflects the effectiveness of institutions, the quality of political leadership, the capacity for strategic adaptation, and the ability to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities. Yet competitiveness is more than an outcome. It is also the product of deliberate political choices and policy strategies. To capture this dynamic dimension, the concept of competitive statecraft is introduced. It refers to the purposeful use of public authority and state resources to build, sustain, and project competitive advantages in pursuit of broader national objectives.The relationship between stability, competitiveness, and resilience requires renewed theoretical reflection. These concepts should not be treated as automatically complementary. Strategies aimed at strengthening a state’s competitive position may simultaneously increase its exposure to economic, social, or geopolitical vulnerabilities, while efforts to enhance resilience can entail costs that constrain short-term economic performance or innovation. In this context, competitive statecraft refers to the capacity of public authorities to manage these trade-offs and adapt institutional and policy arrangements to changing domestic and international conditions. Stability, therefore, should be understood not as a static equilibrium or the mere absence of crisis, but as a dynamic condition rooted in adaptability and the ability to withstand and respond to disruptive shocks. From this perspective, resilience serves as a key mechanism through which states reconcile competitive pressures with the need to preserve social cohesion, institutional continuity, and long-term development.The aim of this Research Topic is to examine how contemporary states build, sustain, and balance competitiveness and resilience under conditions of instability, transformation, and systemic pressure. Particular attention is devoted to the role of competitive statecraft in shaping state responses to geopolitical, economic, technological, and social challenges. The collection seeks to explore how governments manage the trade-offs between enhancing competitive advantages and preserving the adaptive capacities necessary for long-term stability, social cohesion, and sustainable development.We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• conceptual and theoretical perspectives on stability, competitiveness, resilience, and competitive statecraft • competitiveness and resilience of states under conditions of global crises, uncertainty, and systemic shocks • state capacity, governance quality, and institutional adaptability as foundations of competitiveness and resilience • public policy responses to major crises and systemic disruptions • resilience and crisis management in democratic, hybrid, and authoritarian systems • industrial policy, strategic autonomy, economic security, digital transformation, technological sovereignty, and innovation as instruments of competitive statecraft • geopolitical change, security challenges, regional integration, and international cooperation as determinants of state competitiveness and resilience • social cohesion, inequality, political legitimacy, leadership, and public trust in resilient states • environmental sustainability, climate adaptation, and energy transition as dimensions of competitiveness and resilience • corruption, informal institutions, governance deficits, and state fragility as barriers to resilience and competitiveness • comparative and cross-regional studies of state responses to instability and transformation.This Research Topic adopts an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective, drawing on insights from political science, economics, international relations, sociology, public administration, law, and history. It seeks to foster theoretical and empirical debate on how competitiveness and resilience influence the capacity of states to maintain stability, adapt to change, and pursue sustainable development in an increasingly turbulent international environment. Topic editors: Oleksandra Werbowa, Maryana Prokop, Justyna Ziobrowska-Sztuczka Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83078/between-stability-and-chaos-volume-2-competitiveness-and-resilience-in-contemporary-states