NCJ Number
230436
Journal
Journal of Strategic Security Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2009 Pages: 91-98
Date Published
May 2009
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the concept of fragility and the role it plays in determining the allocation of scarce economic resources.
Abstract
Fragility is a system that works on the concepts of subjects and objects, where subjects are entities that seek to exploit the services or capacity offered by the object, and objects are those entities that deliver some good or service to the overall system. Both subjects and objects can be measured using a consistent framework. Subjects are measured based on the demand they put on the overall system, and objects are measured based on the capacity they deliver to the system. This paper uses the relationship between subjects and objects to examine three concepts of fragility: the design fragility, the natural fragility, and the cyclical fragility. It explores how fragility can be used to examine the strengths and weaknesses of a region's infrastructure and how an understanding of fragility can be used to conduct appropriate assessments in determining the allocation of scarce economic resources.