Introduction

Understanding and governing global systemic crises in the 21st century: A complexity perspective

“…But the core features of systemic crises are different from the central assumptions of simplicity, controllability, and predictability on which the techno-rational order is founded (Geyer & Rihani, 2010;Harrison & Geyer, 2021). A growing scholarship has emerged around forms of governance that seeks to manage complex systems (Galaz, 2019;Oberthür & Stokke, 2011;Pegram & Kreienkamp, 2019;Young, 2017a). This literature has demonstrated that a lack of understanding of the properties of complex systems and their implications in a globalized society have been major obstacles to address the most pressing global challenges.…”

“…Conventional policy approaches focusing on stability and/or efficiency are not designed to respond to systemic crises (Peters et al, 2019). Global policymaking to prevent, react to and recover from systemic crises relates to the capacity to understand and address key characteristics of complex systems (Biggs et al, 2012;Galaz, 2019;Linkov & Trump, 2019). The insights gained in the study of systemic risks/crises in different areas not only emphasize the relevance of different tools and strategies from regulations to incentives, but also show the importance of adopting a multi-stage response approach.…”

A Safe Governance Space for Humanity: Necessary Conditions for the Governance of Global Catastrophic Risks

“…All of these schemes, and others that have been suggested in the very large literature on global catastrophic risks (cf. Baum & Barrett, 2018 ; Baum & Handoh, 2014 ; Galaz, 2019 ) and global systemic risks (Centeno et al, 2015 ), come with question marks as to when they should be implemented and to how they should be implemented. Sunstein ( 2007 ), for example, admits that the Catastrophic Harm Precautionary Principle is ‘lamentably vague’ in these regards.…”

“…The reasons for this have been spelled out by a number of authors (e.g. Duit & Galaz, 2008 ; Young, 2017 ), and especially papers in Galaz, 2019 ). Here we examine some of the major alternative governance systems that have been proposed and ask how they stack up against our five conditions (see Table 2 ).…”