The resilience of the regulatory state in an age of polycrisis

The world of ‘polycrisis’ poses fundamental questions about the resilience of the regulatory state. This paper introduces the core challenges of the polycrisis era for the regulatory state. Particular attention is paid to debates surrounding resilience and how regulatory regimes may develop capacity for resilience. The paper considers resilience in terms of information processing capacity. It identifies four possible futures for the regulatory state in an age of polycrisis, but notes that such futures depend on assumptions regarding the resourcefulness of regulators and the regulated. It suggests that building resilience into regulatory capacity requires continuous mediation and conversation, rather than relying on fixed blueprints.