When the Polycrisis Hits the Omnishambles, What Comes Next?

In this article, Henry Farrell explores the collision between the polycrisis and the omnishambles, a term for political and bureaucratic dysfunction. Farrell argues that while government regulation traditionally acts as a stabilizing force against financial and systemic risks, the dismantling of administrative capacity under Trump’s second term risks amplifying instability instead of containing it. Drawing on complexity theory, he highlights how crises reinforce each other through positive feedback loops, while weakened governance erodes the possibility of homeostatic responses. The piece warns that rather than crises leading to institutional strengthening, the U.S. and other governments appear trapped in reverse feedbacks where worsening problems empower actors hostile to regulation. To address this, Farrell stresses the urgent need to rebuild state capacity and reconfigure the relationship between democracy and governance, ensuring governments can act as adaptive stabilizers in an era of multiplying systemic risks.