Polycrisis - Cascade Institute

Polytunity - The Ideas Letter

“Polycrisis” has become a ubiquitous descriptor for the multisector, intersecting problems afflicting the world—but the term masks the systemic nature of these crises and overwhelmingly reflects Eurocentric voices, priorities, and…

Prefixing the World

Why the polycrisis is a permacrisis, which is actually a metacrisis, which is not really a crisis at all.

Welcome to a Multidimensional Economic Disaster

The AI boom wasn’t built for the polycrisis.

Transformational Pathways to Sustainability Through Polycrisis

Keep up to date with our latest news, events, and other IIASA activities. Sign up.

John Vervaeke: “The Meaning Crisis: Wisdom, Purpose, and the Search for Coherence” - The Great Simplification

The crises that our world is facing seem to be constantly growing, leading to enormous and devastating systemic effects across the globe.

CRISES AVERTED. How A Few Past Societies Found Adaptive Reforms in the Face of Structural-Demographic Crises

Historians and social scientists have long been preoccupied with understanding and documenting periods of crisis. Such emphasis is only growing, and becoming more pressing, as the world continues to face a number of interrelated stressors in the form of irreversible climate change, major ecological shocks and disease outbreaks, eruptions of military violence, economic disruptions and deepening inequalities, political polarization and unrest, the rise of authoritarian and nationalist regimes. Crises in these domains are not new, but have been recurrent features of past societies. Although these periods have typically led to massive loss of life, the failure of critical institutions, and even complete societal collapse, there are instances in the historical record of societies managing to turn the tide of crisis even as violence and social turmoil grow. Here, we focus on four such cases of crises mitigated with structural reforms revealed from our previous historical analyses: early Republican Rome, mid-19th century England and Russia, USA during the the late 20th to early 21st centuries. Utilizing structural demographic theory as a lens to explore these cases, we seek to expose the pressures that built up leading to crisis and the early signs of violent confrontation revealed by these societies, as well as to examine the conditions and key decisions made in the midst of this unrest that allowed these societies to turn the tide and enact significant structural adaptations. Our findings have clear relevance to understanding and navigating similar crises in contemporary societies.

The Prospects of a Pluriversal Transition to a Post-Capitalist, Post-C

This book critically engages with a central dilemma facing counter-hegemonic movements as global crises intensify: how to foster systemic change while

Why Crisis Resilience Depends on Epistemic Security

If we want to prevent tomorrow’s crises from spiraling out of control, we must recognize epistemic systems as critical infrastructure, writes Elizabeth Seger.

Political Scenarios for Climate Disaster - Dissent Magazine

In the Global North we often act as if our future will be a warmer version of today: liberal capitalism, plus flood insurance, minus coral reefs. That future is a fantasy.

THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS

A Thought Exercise in Financial History, from the Future

Calamity Theory

What are the implications of how we talk about apocalypse? A new philosophical field has emerged. “Existential risk” studies any real or hypothetical hum...

A world in turmoil: governing risk, establishing order in humanitarian crises

This special issue of Disasters on humanitarian governance focuses on risk and order. Its contributions show the tensions between humanitarian normative ideals and practical consequences, as many of ...