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 polycrisis or something else entirely. They also explore questions such as: Why is it comforting to think that the crises […]
The History of Bad Ideas: Polycrisis Read More »
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 challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, democratic backsliding, deteriorating public services, and geopolitical shifts linked to the rise
Polycrisis! Implications for Public Policy in the Global South Read More »
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. Drawing on evidence from a range of AfT-supported initiatives, it highlights AfT’s capacity to enhance resilience at both macro and micro levels. However, the impact
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 sustainability or ecosystem health. Drawing on systems science and the service ecosystems perspective, they present a framework for systemic management that prioritizes holistic, integrative, adaptive,
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 finds that extreme climate events have more severe negative impacts in regions already affected by conflict. These compounded effects, framed as a climate-conflict polycrisis, disproportionately
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 assessment, governance, and communication. The authors argue that traditional, siloed approaches are no longer adequate in a world marked by cascading, interconnected crises. Drawing on
Polycrisis and Systemic Risk: Assessment, Governance, and Communication Read More »
In this paper, Ruth Richardson argues that the global polycrisis demands a transformative shift in how systemic risks are assessed and addressed. Traditional, siloed approaches to risk management are no longer sufficient to confront the cascading and compounding nature of today’s interconnected challenges. She emphasizes the need for integrated, transdisciplinary methods that draw on diverse
Critical Responses to Global Systemic Risk in an Era of Polycrisis Read More »
This paper illustrates the potential of systems thinking by applying system archetypes to advance the conceptual understanding of the polycrisis. It explores three archetypes adapted to the study of polycrises: Converging Constraints (based on the Limits to Growth archetype), Deepening Divides (from Success to the Successful), and Crisis Deferral (from Policy Resistance). By mapping feedback
Polycrisis Patterns: Applying System Archetypes to Crisis Interactions Read More »
One year after the call for papers for the Polycrisis in the Anthropocene special issue, 13 articles have been published, with more contributions forthcoming. This webinar features five authors from the first set of papers in the Global Sustainability special issue “Polycrisis in the Anthropocene.” It explores a range of efforts to deepen our understanding
Polycrisis in the Anthropocene – A Global Sustainability Webinar Read More »
The authors explore how artificial intelligence is increasingly entangled with the polycrisis. Using the Anthropocene Traps framework, they examine 14 self-reinforcing structural dynamics to reveal how artificial intelligence can both exacerbate and help address these crises. While artificial intelligence supports data collection, efficiency, and ecological research, it also fuels unsustainable growth imperatives, infrastructure lock-ins, and
Artificial Intelligence in the Polycrisis: Fueling or Fighting Flames? Read More »
