Academic Journal Article

Critical Responses to Global Systemic Risk in an Era of Polycrisis

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 […]

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Ten Principles for Transforming Economics in a Time of Global Crises

The authors present a qualitative analysis of 238 sources spanning 38 alternative economic approaches and identify ten shared principles for transforming economics in response to the global polycrisis. These principles include social–ecological embeddedness, limits to growth, equity, and post-capitalist thinking, and span ecological, social, political economy and holistic domains. Seeking to bring coherence to a

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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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Towards the Governance of Global Systemic Risk: Reforming the Summit of the Future

This paper examines the United Nations’ 2024 Summit of the Future and its Pact for the Future, suggesting that while the Pact addresses key global challenges, it does not fully account for the systemic nature of emerging risks such as polycrisis and planetary overshoot. The authors argue that existing governance models may be insufficient for

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Artificial Intelligence in the Polycrisis: Fueling or Fighting Flames?

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

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How Do Crises Spread? The Polycrisis and Crisis Transmission

Malte Brosig examines the conditions under which crises may transmit across systems, presenting a conceptual analysis that draws on a diverse set of theoretical frameworks, including neofunctionalism, rational choice, complexity theory, assemblage theory, and epidemiology. He argues that crisis transmission is not automatic but may be shaped by factors such as stressor similarity, functional interdependencies,

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The Social Pathology of Polycrisis

Stephen J. Purdey explores how the polycrisis has emerged as a growing threat despite humanity’s shared desire for safety and prosperity. He argues that its material dimensions are rooted in and legitimized by an underlying belief system. Key elements of this system include an exaggerated sense of human exceptionalism, an anthropocentric worldview, and a licentious

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What Comes After the Polycrisis?

In this article, Erik Assadourian explores how interventions during the polycrisis can be designed to be most effective in fostering a better post-polycrisis future, while also strengthening society’s ability to respond in the present. He argues that while collapse may be increasingly likely, societies still have opportunities to shape what comes after. Assadourian emphasizes the

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Polycrisis and Political Cynicism: What are the Links?

The author examines the mutually reinforcing relationship between political cynicism and the emerging polycrisis. Verret integrates concepts such as governance performance, political distrust, and populism into a systemic analysis. He concludes that political cynicism both exacerbates and is intensified by economic instability, democratic backsliding, and governance failures, creating positive feedback loops that amplify systemic stress.

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Polycrises: A New International Reality?

In this special issue of Recherche et politique appliquée, an initiative led by the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory on Risks and Crises (LIRIC), the concept of polycrisis is explored through practical applications. Featuring contributions from graduate students, the issue offers critical reflections on the meaning, emergence, and operationalization of polycrisis across academic and francophone contexts.

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