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.

Big AI is accelerating the metacrisis: What can we do?

Steven Bird

The author argues that large-scale corporate artificial intelligence, or “Big AI,” is accelerating a converging set of ecological, cultural, and linguistic crises that together constitute a global metacrisis. Focusing on…

2025’s Global Health Polycrisis: Climate, Contagion and the Limits of our Defences

Chandan Prakash

This article explores how 2025 marked a defining year for global public health, shaped by a polycrisis of resurgent infectious diseases, climate-driven emergencies, antimicrobial resistance, and an escalating mental health…

Collective Action in the Age of Polycrisis

Gilberto Seravalli

In this book, Gilberto Seravalli examines the challenges of fostering collective action amid widespread political, economic, and institutional instability. Framed by the concept of polycrisis, the analysis explores the structural…

The World Order After 2025

Yuen Yuen Ang

In this article, Yuen Yuen Ang argues that 2025 marks not just the end of the postwar global order but the emergence of a new one. She examines the collapse…

More Than a Buzzword? Mapping Interpretations of the ‘Polycrisis’

Louis Delannoy, Jean-Charles Leveugle, Sofia Maniatakou and Peter Søgaard Jørgensen

This article critically examines the concept of polycrisis, tracing its evolution from rhetorical buzzword to an emerging analytical lens in sustainability and crisis research. Based on a Q-methodology study involving…

All Crises are Unhappy in Their Own Way: The Role of Societal Instability in Shaping the Past

Daniel Hoyer, Samantha Holder, James S. Bennett, Pieter Francois, Harvey Whitehouse, R. Alan Covey, Gary Feinman, Andrey Korotayev, Vadim Ustyuzhanin, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Kathryn Bard, Jill Levine, Jenny Reddish, Georg Orlandi, Rachel Ainsworth and Peter Turchin.

This article introduces the Crisis Database, a comprehensive resource that systematically documents 168 historical societal crises across different time periods, regions, and levels of complexity. Aiming to overcome small-sample bias…

Global Risk Forecast 2026

Crisis24

The Crisis24 Global Risk Forecast 2026 provides a strategic outlook on the evolving risk landscape heading into 2026. It identifies a global environment marked by intensifying geopolitical competition, persistent economic…

Examining the Three Existential Threats of the 21st Century: Artificial Intelligence, Climate Change, and Nuclear Weapons

Hassan Fattahi and Zahra Mohebi-Pourkani

The authors critically examine three existential threats facing humanity in the 21st century: advanced artificial intelligence, escalating climate change, and nuclear weapons. Drawing on scientific consensus and growing institutional concern,…

World of Woes: How the Global Polycrisis is Shaping Canada’s Youth

Nicole Thompson

This article explores why young Canadians are increasingly reporting feelings of despair amid what experts describe as a global polycrisis. Drawing on personal testimonies, it reflects on how a generation…

2026 Emergency Watchlist

Chatham House

The Watchlist 2026 report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) highlights the deepening intersection of conflict, climate change, and economic instability across 20 crisis-prone countries. It warns of a dangerous…

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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