Learning resource

Launch of the Polycrisis & Policy Brief Series

In this webinar, the PolyCIVIS initiative launches the first two papers of its Policy Brief Series (“From Polycrisis to Polysolutions” and “Humanitarian Aid in the Polycrisis”), which aim to inform and shape global discourse on the complex and interconnected nature of today’s polycrisis. The session explores the definition of polycrisis, highlighting its transboundary effects, multi-causality, […]

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Principles for Guiding Future Research on Resilience and Tipping Points

This paper presents an integrated systems approach to resilience and tipping points by bridging heuristic models with mathematical frameworks from dynamical systems theory. Using the ball-and-cup model alongside the S-shaped bifurcation curve, the authors demonstrate how concepts such as stability, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability can be formally defined and applied to complex ecological, climate, and

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Communicating a World-in-Crisis

This book explores innovative ways in which different media, communicative fields, and creative practices are making a difference in a world increasingly defined by systemic, deepening, and compounding crises. It examines how these practices can contribute positively to a broader understanding of our planetary predicament and promote the cultural flourishing of new ideas and regenerative

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From Polycrisis to Polysolutions: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Complex Global Challenges

This PolyCIVIS Foundational Brief explores the complexities of the polycrisis, examining the human dimension and focusing on governance, economic systems, and public trust. It analyzes the politics of framing the polycrisis and how existing governance structures can inadvertently contribute to its intricacy. It emphasizes the need for long-term, systemic solutions over short-term measures and advocates

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Wicked Problems: The Book

The authors examine why the world’s most urgent problems remain unsolved, emphasizing their interconnected and self-perpetuating nature. Drawing on theories of systemic failure and cumulative causation, they show how global issues interlock in degenerative cycles that cannot be addressed in isolation. By mapping 162 global issues into seven overarching categories, the “Wicked 7,” they identify

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Humanitarian Aid in the Polycrisis: Local and Systems Thinking Approaches

This policy brief explores how the humanitarian sector must adapt to increasingly complex polycrisis . It presents key recommendations for reimagining humanitarian aid to prevent a slide into permacrisis, emphasizing the need to shift from reactive, centralized models to locally led, systems-based approaches. Central to this transformation is empowering local actors through meaningful leadership, dismantling

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Global Interconnectedness of Risks: A Worldwide Analysis

The author explores the interconnected global risk landscape, where various risks amplify one another, potentially causing cascading effects across regions and sectors. She examines the global relationship between different types of risks and analyzes the significance of the coefficients derived from collected time panel data. Key findings include the positive correlation between net user growth

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Planetary Boundaries, Polycrisis and Politics in the Anthropocene: Climate Pathways, Tipping Cascades and Transition to Sustainable Peace in Integrative Geography

This chapter explores the impacts of the “great acceleration” in human development and its impact on planetary boundaries and the polycrisis in the Anthropocene. Using an Integrative Geography perspective, it links human-nature relationships, growth limits, and global expansion to crises and geopolitical conflicts, highlighting interconnected risks. The chapter calls for sustainable peace by balancing human

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When the Polycrisis Hits the Omnishambles, What Comes Next?

In this article, Henry Farrell explores the collision between the polycrisis and the omnishambles, a term for political and bureaucratic dysfunction. Farrell argues that while government regulation traditionally acts as a stabilizing force against financial and systemic risks, the dismantling of administrative capacity under Trump’s second term risks amplifying instability instead of containing it. Drawing

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