This blog post is the first in a series of posts in which Jeremy Brecher advocates a Global Green New Deal as the remedy to polycrisis. He argues that the present features a global polycrisis that is unique from crises of the past due to the interconnections between crises in multiple sectors, particularly geopolitics, economics, […]
“The Whole World is in a Terrible State o’ Chassis” Read More »
This article discusses the emergence of the word ‘polycrisis’ in 2023, noting its rise to prominence at the 53rd World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, and seeks to underscore the gravity behind it. Larchman provides a primer, in which she defines polycrisis, in part, as “a cluster of interconnected crises in which ‘the overall impact exceeds
The Polycrisis: Behind The Buzzword Read More »
In this article, author Ivan Filippov discusses how think tanks can assist in navigating the polycrisis by outlining 5 potential roles for them to play, elaborating on each role, and providing real-world examples. The roles outlined by Filippov are as follows: a trusted voice/crisis navigator for the public; a research arm of civil society; a
Five New Roles for Think Tanks in the Age of Polycrisis Read More »
Alistair Benn argues that the polycrisis, with its overwhelming notion of multiple inter-related crises, is an illusory product of social media technologies that overload users with “shock after shock” and create a false impression of connections between the world’s problems. The solution to the polycrisis is thus to reduce exposure to social media and better
Polycrisis? What Polycrisis? Read More »
Paul Gilding argues that the world has reached “a multi-system tipping point” that will bring “the Great Disruption”: “a destabilisation of the global climate system at a scale that is so chaotic, unpredictable and costly, it will trigger cascading disruptive change in the global economy, national politics, investment markets and geopolitical security.” Gilding predicts that
The Great Disruption has Begun Read More »
This press release for the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Global Risks Report summarizes its key findings and highlights its use of the term polycrisis.
We’re on the Brink of a ‘Polycrisis’-How Worried Should We Be? Read More »
Building on an earlier post, Bo Harvey begins with the question “what might the popularity of [the term] polycrisis say about the weaknesses of current critical analyses of capitalism?” and proposes that the “conceptual breadth of both terms represents a broader crisis of reference in the concept ‘crisis’.” He then considers the role of crisis
On the ‘Polycrisis’ Part II: Philosophies of History & Crises in Political Thought Read More »
Asher Miller of the Post-Carbon Institute critiques Dan Drezner’s dismissal of the term polycrisis and his worry that it promotes fatalism and inaction. Miller counterargues that “only in understanding the true nature of our predicament and accepting the need for systemic shifts in virtually all aspects of the modern world can we find the agency
Is ‘Polycrisis’ the Right Word for Our Times? Read More »
Farwa Sial argues that the polycrisis neologism is a feint that allows international financial institutions to continue business as usual by obscuring their role in global problems. She critiques definitions of polycrisis for downplaying the role of capitalism and global power hierarchies in the perpetuation of contemporary crises, and for overlooking the experiences of the
Bo Harvey examines origins and recent popularity of the polycrisis concept, then rebuts critiques of the concept by Noah Smith and Guney Isikara. In response to the latter, Harvey problematizes the reduction of all the world’s problems to “capitalism” by noting the wide breadth of that term. “In other words, I want to argue that
On the ‘Polycrisis’ Part I: Issues in Abstract Conceptual Circumference Read More »
