Welcome to the Age of Chaos

In this analysis, Foreign Policy presents its annual foresight of the top global risks for 2026. Drawing on the authors’ forecasting experience at the National Intelligence Council, the report outlines ten interconnected threats, including economic crisis, the dissolution of global order, disruptive AI trajectories, and accelerating climate decline. The authors argue that the world is approaching an inflection point, where discontinuity buries the post–Cold War era and ushers in a new, unknowable order.