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Navigating Systemic Risk in the Age of Polycrisis

In this episode, Ajay Gambhir, Director of Systemic Risk Assessment at ASRA, explores the concept of polycrisis, showing how climate change is deeply interconnected with other global challenges across social, economic, and political systems. He highlights how crises reinforce one another, creating complex feedbacks that demand integrated solutions. A central theme is inequality, which shapes […]

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Editorial Introduction to the Special Issue on Polycrisis and Systemic Risks

In this article, the authors introduce a special issue of the International Journal of Disaster Risk Science dedicated to the study of polycrisis and systemic risk. Set against the backdrop of increasingly interconnected global disruptions, the issue critiques conventional, linear models of risk and advocates for integrative, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to analysis, governance, and

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Chartbook 407: Polycrisis Revisited: Are we beyond Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome?

In Chartbook 407, Adam Tooze revisits the concept of polycrisis, examining how overlapping economic, geopolitical, environmental, and social disruptions interact to amplify systemic fragility. He questions whether the world has moved beyond what he terms the Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome, and whether we are witnessing the end of the neoliberal era or merely its transformation.

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Facing the Polycrisis: Human-Environmental Security for Planet Earth

This chapter of the Handbook on Migration and Human Rights examines the urgency of adopting a holistic vision for human–environmental security in shaping the future of the planet. It highlights how “human security” objectives can be aligned with “human rights” concerns in the design and implementation of responsible government policy aimed at safeguarding planet Earth.

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Deepening Relational Capacity to Confront the Polycrisis in Higher Education and Beyond

The authors examine the multifaceted challenges confronting Canadian higher education within a context of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, as well as amid multiple overlapping crises. They analyze ten challenges: uncertain finances; an affordability crisis; complexities of equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization, and Indigenization; intergenerational dissonance; public (ir)relevance; ecological destabilization; ambivalent AI; a mental health epidemic;

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Exploring the Intersection between Artificial Intelligence and Biological Sciences: Focus on Uses and Challenges

This report examines how artificial intelligence is transforming biosafety, biosecurity, biodefense, and global health, while simultaneously introducing new biological risks. Drawing on a systematic review of 169 scientific articles and surveys of life science professionals across Latin America, it finds that AI tools are increasingly applied to epidemiological prediction, protein design, and laboratory automation, yet

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Characterizing the Global Polycrisis: A Systematic Review of Recent Literature

The authors examine the concept of polycrisis, a term that has gained prominence for describing the interconnected nature of global challenges. Through a systematic review of 2,299 publications, the results indicate a common understanding of the polycrisis as multiple co-occurring, causally entangled crises with synergistic and cascading effects on multiple systems degrading humanity’s prospects. While

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Wicked Crises and the (In)capacity to Act

Renate E. Meyer examines the growing complexity of today’s wicked crises, which are interconnected, multi-scalar disruptions such as climate change, forced displacement, and cyber insecurity. These crises defy traditional models and demand collective action. Meyer identifies two interrelated forces that undermine this capacity: organizational fragmentation, which complicates governance and coordination; and societal fragmentation, marked by

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A Systemic Risk Assessment Methodological Framework for the Global Polycrisis

The paper examines two historical global food–energy crises, highlighting the limitations of traditional risk management approaches in addressing today’s complex and interconnected global risks. The authors propose a methodological framework for assessing systemic risks in a global polycrisis context, which includes exploring system architectures, considering transformational responses away from risks, and applying cross-cutting practices. They

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The Impact of Polycrisis on Healthcare Systems—Analyzing Challenges and the Role of Social Epidemiology

This article examines how overlapping global crises are converging to form a polycrisis that places unprecedented strain on healthcare systems worldwide. Applying social epidemiology to the analysis of polycrisis, the authors highlight how these interconnected threats amplify one another, exposing systemic vulnerabilities and deepening health inequities. Drawing on data from missed hospitalizations, conflict zones such

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