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Vulnerability is susceptibility to, or risk of exposure to, hazards and stresses related to social problems, environmental problems, economic problems, or political problems. The word vulnerability is often used in conjunction with poverty and may specifically imply vulnerability to poverty or to poverty-related issues. Individuals, communities, groups, regions, and nations can be vulnerable and poverty increases this vulnerability.

Rethinking vulnerability and resistance / Judith Butler -- Risking oneself and one's identity : agonism revisited / Zeynep Gambetti -- Bouncing back : vulnerability and resistance in times of resilience / Sarah Bracke -- Vulnerable times / Marianne Hirsch -- Barricades : resources and residues of resistance / Bașak Ertür -- Dreams and the political subject / Elena Loizidou -- Vulnerable corporealities and precarious belongings in Mona Hatoum's art / Elena Tzelepis -- Precarious politics : the activism of "bodies that count" (aligning with those that don't) in Palestine's colonial frontier / Rema Hammami -- When Antigone is a man : feminist "trouble" in the late colony / Nükhet Sirman -- Violence against women in Turkey : vulnerability, sexuality, and eros / Meltem Ahıska -- Bare subjectivity : faces, veils, and masks in the contemporary allegories of western citizenship / Elsa Dorlin -- Nonsovereign agonism (or, beyond affirmation versus vulnerability) / Athena Athanasiou -- Permeable bodies : vulnerability, affective powers, hegemony / Leticia Sabsay

Vulnerability acts as a touchstone in this issue as we find our contributors reflecting on its intersection with gender and sexuality in different ways. Saeidzadeh draws out the significance of misrecognition in her consideration of responses to transsexuality in Iran, while Doonan highlights the potential pitfalls of relying on situational vulnerability in her critique of anti-trafficking legal discourse in the US. Lindsey considers the legal potential of situational vulnerability as a tool to address the 'persistent failure to take action against abuse' in the UK. Durojaye and Oluduro contribute to the recent revitalisation in asking 'the woman question' by drawing on African law and literature to flesh out the development of a gender-sensitive, substantive equality approach from the jurisprudence of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights as it addresses vulnerability to violence. The reviewers continue this international conversation as they address recent contributions on sexuality, family formation and social security.

In this paper, I intend to explore the apparent difficulty in communication between two understandings of vulnerability: one that claims that vulnerability is a part of conditio humana, a feature closely connected to the facts of (human) embodiment and mortality, and the other which argues for the exclusivity of vulnerability and wishes to limit it to only those who are "more than ordinarily vulnerable". The first part of the paper outlines the main sources of disagreement between these two perspectives as may be read from scholarly literature and relevant ethics documents. The thesis of this text is that the conflict between the two perspectives can be resolved if the concept of vulnerability is understood in its complexity rather than as reduced to its negative aspects. In order to set grounds for the thesis, the second part of the paper examines what would constitute the concept of invulnerability. In the last part, three attempts at resolution of the conflict are examined. That which advocates for the redefinition of the conventional understanding of vulnerability is favored.

Earlier attempts to explain the East Asian crisis of 1997 have overemphasised the importance of contagion, missing the central role of vulnerability. According to conventional accounts, Thailand experienced a financial panic due to such factors as corrupt government and corporate practices, inadequately supervised banks and venal currency speculators. Confidence in the Thai currency and banking system collapsed, provoking capital flight, a float of the Thai currency and a drastic decline in its value. This undermined confidence in the prospects of other East Asian countries, also provoking crises there. This article clarifies the concept of vulnerability and demonstrates its relevance by showing the long-term development of vulnerability in each of the three 'IMF bail-out' countries: Thailand, Indonesia and Korea. By 1996 all three were vulnerable to a currency crisis. Contagion provided the short-term trigger for the crisis but was not its underlying cause. The policy lesson is to avoid vulnerability, not to attempt to avoid contagion.

Earlier attempts to explain the East Asian crisis of 1997 have overemphasised the importance of contagion, missing the central role of vulnerability. According to conventional accounts, Thailand experienced a financial panic due to such factors as corrupt government and corporate practices, inadequately supervised banks and venal currency speculators. Confidence in the Thai currency and banking system collapsed, provoking capital flight, a float of the Thai currency and a drastic decline in its value. This undermined confidence in the prospects of other East Asian countries, also provoking crises there. This article clarifies the concept of vulnerability and demonstrates its relevance by showing the long-term development of vulnerability in each of the three 'IMF bail-out' countries: Thailand, Indonesia and Korea. By 1996 all three were vulnerable to a currency crisis. Contagion provided the short-term trigger for the crisis but was not its underlying cause. The policy lesson is to avoid vulnerability, not to attempt to avoid contagion.

The notion of vulnerability is increasingly present in normative, legal and ethical documents of various kinds. The academic literature on the concept is recent and still in its consolidation stage. In general terms, a distinction can be made between two trends: the first, which reflects on «ontological vulnerability», shared by all human beings; and the second, on «social» or «situational vulnerability», generated in certain specific situations of injustice or oppression. This article presents a general approach to the use of the concept of vulnerability and the most prominent versions of the last decades. It also explores the relationship between vulnerability and three key ethical ideas: relational autonomy, responsibility and care. Emphasis is placed on the practical dimension of the discussion, related to the design of public policies and other tools for democratic governance. ; La idea de vulnerabilidad está cada vez más presente en documentos normativos, jurídicos y éticos, de diversa índole. La literatura académica relativa al concepto es reciente y aún está en proceso de consolidación. En términos generales, se puede distinguir entre dos corrientes: la primera, que reflexiona sobre la «vulnerabilidad ontológica», compartida por todos los seres humanos; y la segunda, sobre la «vulnerabilidad social» o «situacional», generada en determinadas situaciones de injusticia u opresión específicas. En este artículo se presenta una aproximación general al uso del concepto de vulnerabilidad y a las versiones más destacadas de las últimas décadas. Asimismo, se reflexiona sobre la relación de la vulnerabilidad con tres ideas éticas clave: autonomía relacional, responsabilidad y cuidado. Se hace hincapié en la vertiente práctica de la reflexión, relativa al diseño de políticas públicas y otras herramientas de gobernanza democrática.

Vulnerability drives disaster law, yet the literature lacks both an overarching analysis of the different aspects of vulnerability and a nuanced examination of the factors that shape disaster outcomes. Though central to disaster law and policy, vulnerability often lurks in the shadows of a disaster, evident only once the worst is past and the bodies have been counted. The COVID-19 pandemic is a notable exception to this historical pattern: from the beginning of the pandemic, it has been clear that the virus poses different risks to different people, depending on vulnerability variables. This most recent pandemic experience thus provides a useful vantage point for analyzing vulnerability. Drawing on empirical data from the pandemic and experiences from past disasters, this Article identifies and discusses the policy implications of three dimensions of disaster vulnerability: the geography of vulnerability, competing or conflicting vulnerabilities, and political vulnerability. First, it explores the geography of vulnerability, using statistical analysis and geographic information system (GIS) mapping. The Article presents an innovative COVID-19 vulnerability index that identifies the country's most vulnerable counties and the leading driver of vulnerability for each county. It demonstrates how this index could have informed voter accommodations during the 2020 elections and mask mandates throughout the pandemic. The Article also shows how, going forward, similar modeling could make disaster management more proactive and better able to anticipate needs and prioritize disaster mitigation and response resources. Second, this Article explores competing or conflicting vulnerabilities––situations where policy-makers must prioritize one vulnerable group or one aspect of vulnerability over another. To illustrate this, it considers two other policy challenges: school closures and vaccine distribution. Finally, the Article explores political vulnerability, analyzing how disasters make already-vulnerable groups even more vulnerable to certain harms, including political neglect, stigmatization, disenfranchisement, and displacement. In sum, this Article draws upon the costly lessons of COVID-19 to suggest a more robust framework for policy-makers to assess and respond to vulnerability in future disasters.