Polycrisis Resource Library

The Polycrisis Resource Library is a growing collection of media that help to understand polycrisis, develop strategies to address polycrisis, and build a field of polycrisis analysis.

The History of Bad Ideas: Polycrisis

David Runciman and Gary Gerstle

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…

Polycrisis! Implications for Public Policy in the Global South

Gedion Onyango and Ishtiaq Jamil (eds)

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…

Beyond the Buzzword: Rethinking Polycrises in Public Policy and Administration Research

Bishoy L. Zaki

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…

How Can Aid for Trade Support the Resilience of the Least Developed Countries in the Face of Polycrisis?

Ratnakar Adhikari

This article examines the potential of Aid for Trade (AfT) as a tool for building resilience in developing countries and least developed countries amid the growing complexity of global polycrisis….

New Responses to Systemic Risks: An Exploration 2025–2045

Sarah Hendel-Blackford, Ajay Gambhir, Hanna Asipovich, Kasia Murphy, Phil Tovey, Ruth Richardson and Zabrina Kjeldsen

This report presents the results of a futures exercise led by ASRA to explore novel responses to escalating systemic risks between 2025 and 2045. Using the ParEvo method, a group…

TS1-1: Understanding systemic risk in the age of polycrisis

Manal Bernoussi (mod), Brendan Moon, Carlos Picado, Brigadier Ahmed Burqibah, Sripana Sil, Ruth Richardson, Katherine Sotomayor, Miriana Budimir and Jeff Schlegelmilch

This session showcases how governments are evolving their approach to risk in the age of polycrisis, incorporating systems thinking, and recognizing the critical role that local stakeholders and community members…

Systemic Management Practices—Enabling Local Governments to Adapt in Response to Complexity

Manuel Riemer, Randy Sa’d, Tim Posselt, Pourya Salehi, David Corbett, Peter Jones, Antony Upward, Exmond DeCruz, Bill Baue, Asad Asadzadeh, Simone Sandholz and Theo Kötter

The authors explore the impact of accelerating change and increasingly complex global and local challenges on the city as a complex socio-ecological service ecosystem (SES) and its capacity to ensure…

Generative AI as intellectual augmentation for the polycrisis/metacrisis

Simon Buckingham Shum

In this webinar, Simon Buckingham Shum explores how generative AI intersects with the escalating global polycrisis, discussing how AI is both part of the problem and potentially part of the…

Polycrisis in Agrifood Systems: Climate-Conflict Interactions and Labor Dynamics for Women and Youth in 21 African Countries

Wolfgang Stojetz, Carlo Azzarri, Erdgin Mane and Tilman Brück

This paper examines how armed conflict and climate change jointly affect individual labour intensity in 21 African countries. Using labour force surveys alongside climate and conflict event data, the study…

Polycrisis and Systemic Risk: Assessment, Governance, and Communication

Huan Liu and Ortwin Renn

In this article Huan Liu and Ortwin Renn examine the concepts of polycrisis and systemic risk. They outline key commonalities and differences and develop a joint understanding to inform risk…

About the Resource Library

The Polycrisis Resource Library includes resources that:

  • Comment on the polycrisis as a concept and as a present global reality
  • Undertake similar analysis using different—but related—concepts
  • Analyze crisis interactions among multiple global systems

Though not exhaustive, the Library strives to present a diverse representation of views on different aspects of the polycrisis discussion, and will be updated as that discussion evolves. Search for resources with the keyword search bar, or by using the drop-down menus to filter for type of resource, global systems addressed, and key themes.

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