Academic Journal Article Archives - Page 7 of 14

Prepared for the Polycrisis? The Need for Complexity Science and Systems Thinking to Address Global and National Evidence Gaps

The authors argue that inadequate national and global level data prevent us from understanding the complex interactions of the polycrisis and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. They propose that applied systems thinking can address this gap by helping to hypothesize, model, visualize, and test system properties, especially if it uses participatory processes that “assist stakeholders […]

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Systemic contributions to global catastrophic risk

This article examines two distinct but related approaches to the global risk landscape: one explores how risks emerge from complex global systems, while the other focuses on worst-case outcomes. The authors present a framework that connects these perspectives, highlighting how emergent properties of the global system—such as hazards, amplification, vulnerability, and latent risks—drive the potential

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Introduction: Escaping the Politics Trap? EU Integration Pathways Beyond the Polycrisis

The authors argue that since 2016, the European Union (EU) has been in a state of ‘polycrisis,’ where interconnected challenges threaten its cohesion and legitimacy. They develop an analytical framework elaborating the concepts of polycrises, polycleavages, and politics traps, applying it to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They conclude that, despite

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The Disruption Nexus

Roman Krznaric explores the conditions in which crises lead to transformative societal change. He finds that transformative responses are most common in conditions of war, disaster, revolution, and disruption. The latter refers to “a moment of system instability that provides opportunities for rapid transformation” which is created by the “disruption nexus” of crisis events (typically

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Governance for Earth System Tipping Points – A Research Agenda

The authors propose a new interdisciplinary research agenda to address the challenges that earth system tipping points pose for global governance. They argue that current institutions and policy tools are inadequate for managing the rapid, non-linear, and potentially irreversible nature of tipping processes. The paper seeks to develop a governance framework specifically suited to the

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A delusion of control: Loss of agency in modern complex systems

This article argues that as “we increasingly rely on [globalized complex adaptive systems], we surrender more and more individual autonomy and agency, diminishing our ability to actually control our outcomes and wellbeing.” Concomitantly, “the illusion that we as individuals–or even as a society–can fully control the modern complex systems-of-systems that enable modern living is a

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Polycrisis in the Anthropocene as a Key Research Agenda for Geography: Ontological Delineation and the Shift to a Postdisciplinary Approach

Motivated by a desire to strengthen the social relevance of geography in the quest for global sustainability, Matlovic and Matlovicova discuss how the subdisciplines of geography and the rich heritage they present, as well as other related disciplines, can be integrated into the geographical study of polycrisis in the Anthropocene epoch. The authors identify polycrisis

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