Discursive power of risks, resilience, and responsibility in multi-scalar climate and disaster governance: evidence from Pakistan

Countries increasingly vulnerable to climate-induced disasters struggle to align urban governance with global resilience norms due to complex scalar arrangements and governance technologies. Using a sequential exploratory mixed-methods research approach – comprising of historical and document analyses, surveys, and interviews – we analyze how ‘risks’ and ‘responsibility’ are socially constructed within Pakistan’s disaster governance system’s discursive practices, particularly affecting urban informal settlers who face disproportionate climate and disaster risks. Responsibility-related tensions and multi-scalar ‘blame games’ between a monolithic Westphalian state reliant on politically centralized authority and local governance systems seeking greater autonomy critically shape the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction and resilience initiatives. Institutional and political constraints, including neocolonial, military, and media influences, perpetuate scalar inequalities and hinder the adaptation of global resilience norms to local contexts. This reveals how disaster risk reduction and resilience interventions are deeply embedded in political and institutional logics shaping land, communities, and ecosystems. Re-evaluating power structures within intergovernmental systems can help address resilience challenges and implement contextually appropriate strategies.