Is Polycrisis a Global Phenomenon? Perspectives from Comparative Politics

This debate article examines whether polycrisis constitutes a genuinely global phenomenon by bringing together comparative political science perspectives on Africa, Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Global North. Through regional analyses, the authors find that the polycrisis narrative is a Global North construct, while many regions of the Global South experience these dynamics as an extension of long-standing structural vulnerabilities, permanent crises, and external shocks rather than as a novel epochal turning point. The article concludes that polycrisis is less a universal condition than a contested interpretive framework, and that whether multiple crises lead to institutional resilience and cooperation or to authoritarianism and fragmentation depends critically on political culture, institutional capacity, and international context.