Polycrisis and Systemic Risk: Assessment, Governance, and Communication

The emphasis of integrated disaster and risk research has shifted from topical analysis, such as dealing with natural hazard-related disasters, technological accidents, or environmental crises, to a comprehensive analysis of interconnected and mutually interactive risk sources and crises. This interaction has often been framed in the language of “polycrisis” indicating the potentially amplifying and cascading effects of each crisis from one domain to the next. At the same time, the literature on systemic risk also includes the effects of multiple, interacting risks on the functionality and survivability of entire systems such as climate stability, cybersecurity, or energy production. This review article provides first a summary of the literature on both concepts, explicates the commonalities and differences and develops a risk and crisis concept that builds a bridge between the two research traditions. Based on this concept, the review delineates the implementations of a joint understanding of polycrisis and systemic risk for risk assessment, risk and crisis governance, and effective communication to different audiences.