Systemic Changes In The World Economy: From Climate Change Reactions And Multi-Dimensional Conflicts To Polycrisis

Over the course of about three decades (1980-2010), the world economy witnessed a series of changes – e.g. the shift from a bipolar to a unipolar system, the emergence of new centres of economic power, the development of high technologies with potential systemic impact, the deepening of inequalities, the growth of environmental issues – that, from 2017 onward, have led to a redefinition of the balance of power, a rethinking of globalization and a redesign of the global architecture of power. The measures taken to combat climate change, but also the consequences of the war in Ukraine and of conflicts in general, create a framework of challenges that the world economy and its member states must face. In this article we address these changes from the perspective of the polycrisis concept, which begins by recognising the state of affairs and ends by proposing a prioritisation of possible responses/solutions to avoid the transition from systemic risks to polycrisis.