Understanding Polycrisis: Definitions, Applications, and Responses

Abstract

The term ‘polycrisis’ has entered the lexicon of a growing circle of academics, policymakers, and the public. Polycrisis is a state that encompasses a complex set of risks characterized by multiple, macroregional, and often ecologically embedded linkages between inexorably interconnected systems. The article reevaluates disaster studies concepts within this polycrisis framework, locates historical events along a spectrum of such moments, and offers recommendations for democratic resilience.

Keywords: Polycrisis, Cascading Disaster, Compound Disaster, Recurring Acute Disaster