Critical Responses to Global Systemic Risk in an Era of Polycrisis

The world is in the midst of a polycrisis, where multiple, interconnected crises are unfolding simultaneously, amplifying one another in unpredictable ways.This is not merely a confluence of independent crises, but rather an intricate web of interconnected challenges that collectively pose an unprecedented threat to human civilization and ecological systems.The interconnections between these risks, their geographical reach, and ability to exacerbate one another, have created a world of global systemic risk that is more serious, in terms of scale and severity, than risks we have encountered before.This concept has gained increasing recognition in recent years, as both scientists and the general public struggle to grasp the full scope of overlapping global challenges.The roots of this current polycrisis can be traced to the post-World War II era's "Great Acceleration" in social and economic development.This period witnessed unprecedented industrial and technological advancement, which, while bringing remarkable progress, also accelerated the exploitation of natural resources and people.This acceleration has led to cascading effects across multiple systems: a deepening climate crisis, widening disparities between nations, and between citizens of those nations, proliferating conflicts around the world, rapid biodiversity decline, global health pandemics, and increasingly destabilized political systems, to name a few.Recent crises touching many systems include the 2007-2009 Global Financial Crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023-present Sudanese civil war, the war in Ukraine, and the 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict, with the latter three cases reflecting a period of rising geopolitical tensions.These events have occurred in the context of climate change driving more severe and frequent extreme weather events.Running in parallel, it is critical to remember that, since 1990, inequality has grown within countries representing almost three-quarters of the global population, eroding trust and destabilizing political systems, while technology-related risks-including bioweapons, cybersecurity, misinformation, and artificial intelligence-rank high on risk surveys.This context calls for a radical rethinking of how we conceptualize, assess, and respond to risk.