Multiple global crises are worsening one another to produce what many policymakers, scholars, and commentators call a “polycrisis.” This website is a hub that helps this emerging community better understand and address the intersecting crises affecting humanity.
LATEST RESOURCES
Towards a theory of coupled sociopolitical events-planetary boundaries, crises, policrisis and Earth System syndromes
This paper introduces a novel modelling framework to evaluate how specific sociopolitical events influence the Earth System and their interaction with Planetary Boundaries. The authors present an interacting matrix model that links sociopolitical dynamics with ...
Global food security in a turbulent world: reviewing the impacts of the pandemic, the war and climate change
The authors explore how the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia–Ukraine war, and climate change have jointly disrupted global food security. Drawing on recent empirical evidence, the paper examines the mechanisms through which each shock has affected ...
The State of Global Catastrophic Risk Research: A Bibliometric Review
This paper presents a systematic bibliometric analysis of the expanding literature on global catastrophic risk (GCR) and existential risk (ER). Based on 3,437 documents, the authors identify ten major research clusters, including key drivers such ...
Cascading failure, financial network and systemic risk
This paper addresses the challenge of accurately measuring systemic risk by introducing a novel indicator, Expected Shortfall Rank (ESRank), which accounts for cascading failures and network effects often overlooked in traditional models. Using LASSO to ...
The History of Bad Ideas: Polycrisis
In this podcast, David Runciman talks to historian Gary Gerstle about how the idea of the polycrisis was originally conceived, what its current popularity reveals about our times, and whether we are truly experiencing a ...
Youth in the Polycrisis
In this webinar, historian Daniel Hoyer examines the concept of the polycrisis through a historical lens. He explores the lessons past societies offer for understanding today’s complex global challenges and discusses the critical role of ...
Polycrisis! Implications for Public Policy in the Global South
This book explores contemporary public policy and governance in the Global South, offering comparative analyses and detailed case studies from Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. It examines how governments are navigating 21st-century ...
Beyond the Buzzword: Rethinking Polycrises in Public Policy and Administration Research
The author examines the use of the polycrisis concept in public policy and administration research, highlighting its potential for addressing complex challenges but noting a frequent lack of conceptual clarity and analytical depth. Polycrises are ...
Counter-Hegemony and Polycrisis I: How to Eat and How to Think
The authors examine counter-hegemony through a comparative analysis of the Italian mondine and the Black Panther Party. This study offers a theoretical foundation for understanding how contemporary movements respond to the intersecting crises of today’s ...
NEW TO POLYCRISIS.ORG
Youth in the Polycrisis
In this webinar, historian Daniel Hoyer examines the concept of the polycrisis through a historical lens. He explores the lessons past societies offer for understanding today’s complex global challenges and discusses the critical role of ...
Polycrises: A New International Reality?
In this special issue of Recherche et politique appliquée, an initiative led by the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory on Risks and Crises (LIRIC), the concept of polycrisis is explored through practical applications. Featuring contributions from graduate ...
Flourishing Urban Futures to Overcome Polycrises – Roadmap for Resilience 2050
This report presents the outcomes of two Millennium Project Special Sessions held at the 2022 and 2023 FFRC Futures Conferences in Turku, Finland. Through participatory Futures Cliniques, the sessions explored how cities can build resilience ...
Try our guided tour of essential themes in the polycrisis discussion and key texts in the Polycrisis Resource Library.
This map charts the emerging community of scholars and practitioners working on polycrisis and closely related topics.