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.

Global Food Security in a Turbulent World: Reviewing the Impacts of the Pandemic, the War and Climate Change

Donatella Saccone and Elena Vallino

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…

The State of Global Catastrophic Risk Research: A Bibliometric Review

Florian Ulrich Jehn, John-Oliver Engler, Constantin W. Arnscheidt, Magdalena Wache, Ekaterina Ilin, Laura Cook, Lalitha S. Sundaram, Frederic Hanusch and Luke Kemp

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…

Just Systems or Justice in Systems? Exploring the Ethical Implications of Systemic Resilience in Local Climate Adaptation

Benjamin Hofbauer, Paul Einhäupl, Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, Jana Löhrlein, Daniel Bittner and Pia-Johanna Schweizer

The article examines the ethical implications of systemic resilience in local climate adaptation, noting that resilience is an inherently normative concept that requires reflection on a system’s function, why it…

Cascading Failure, Financial Network and Systemic Risk

Chuangxia Huang, Hualu Miao, Xiaoguang Yang, Jie Cao and Huirui Yang

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…

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…

Youth in the Polycrisis

Daniel Hoyer

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…

Decolonising Polycrisis: Southern Perspectives on Interlocking Crises

Kanchana N Ruwanpura, Gustav Cederlöf and Vasna Ramasar

In this article, the authors reframe the concept of polycrisis through a decolonial lens, emphasizing the need to center global South experiences in understanding interlocking crises. Drawing on examples such…

Ability of Politicians to Act – Climate Protection in the Era of the Polycrisis

Simone Kimpeler and Lorenz Erdmann

This report examines five key societal and economic developments that significantly influence the ability of politicians to act in an era of polycrisis. These include: the global polycrisis as a…

Cascading Hazards and Compound Disasters

Irasema Alcántara-Ayala

This special issue examines how systemic risks unfold, interact, and escalate in diverse geographic and institutional contexts. It addresses the significance of adopting a broader systemic approach to understanding disaster…

Polycrisis: Factors, Impacts, and Responses in the Housing Market

Mohd Shahril Abdul Rahman, Mariah Awang and Zainab Toyin Jagun

The authors examine the implications of polycrisis for the housing market. Using a qualitative desktop study and thematic analysis, they identify key contributing factors including economic inequality, climate change, political…

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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