Theory Building

Funding Community Resilience in a Polycrisis: Exploring a Human Learning Systems (+)-Based Approach

The authors explore how the polycrisis requires a rethinking of funding mechanisms to build community resilience. They argue that traditional, risk-averse, outcome-based models are ill-suited to address interconnected crises, and propose the Human Learning Systems (+) model—an approach that enables funders and grantees to consider system-scale elements such as local economic drivers and political conditions, […]

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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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Understanding Polycrisis: Definitions, Applications, and Responses

This paper compares conceptualizations of the term “polycrisis,” raising questions about the key aspects of different definitions while stressing a convergence in critical features. It conceives a polycrisis as a state in which multiple, macroregional, ecologically embedded, and inexorably interconnected systems face high – and advancing – risk across socioeconomic, political, and other dimensions. After

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Beyond the Buzzword: Rethinking Polycrises in Public Policy and Administration Research

The author examines the use of the polycrisis concept in public policy and administration research, highlighting its potential for addressing complex challenges but noting a frequent lack of conceptual clarity and analytical depth. Polycrises are often treated as static and uniform, despite their dynamic and multifaceted nature. To strengthen its application, the author proposes clearer

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Dynamics of the Polycrisis: Temporal Trends, Spatial Distribution, and Co-occurrences of National Shocks (1970–2019)

The authors investigate the evolving nature of global crises by analyzing the temporal trends, geographic distribution, and co-occurrences of shocks across 175 countries from 1970 to 2019. Their findings reveal that shocks have become increasingly co-occurring until 2000, particularly involving conflict, climate, and technological disruptions, followed by regionally varied patterns of stabilization or decline. By

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Mapping an Ecology of Integrative Approaches to Addressing the Metacrisis

This paper presents a systematic mapping of integrative responses to the metacrisis, understood as a complex web of interconnected global crises spanning ecological, epistemic, ethical, and existential domains. Using a metatheoretical methodology, the authors identify and compare a broad range of emerging integrative approaches. They argue that frameworks such as metamodernism, integral theory, Game B,

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Polycrisis Patterns: Applying System Archetypes to Crisis Interactions

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

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From Polycrisis to Metacrisis: a short introduction

The authors explore the relationship between polycrisis and metacrisis, proposing a three-layer logic model to explain their connection. While polycrisis refers to the entanglement of interconnected global crises that intensify one another, metacrisis points to the foundational conditions that generate these crises. Just as symptoms indicate an underlying illness, polycrisis is seen as a manifestation

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Complexity-Congruent Research: Methods and Methodology. In: Global Crises

This chapter examines ‘restricted complexity’ research approaches and their effectiveness in addressing global polycrisis. It explores the potential of ‘complexity-congruent’ designs, which incorporate key traits such as temporal dynamics, multi-level scaling, and participatory methods. The chapter outlines a three-pronged framework: employing complexity-congruent methods, identifying time–space leverage points for intervention, and constructing scenarios of ‘boundary objects’

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