The work of social change is always pressing, but those who do that work are under extraordinary stress right now. The polycrisis—which philosopher Jonathan Rowson neatly defines as “the world system of systems beginning to malfunction, with escalating risks due to emerging properties in the whole being significantly more dangerous than the sum of its parts”—is manifesting all around us. From devastating urban fires to the erosion of journalism and an assault on democracy, the world, as we once knew it, feels unsettled and unfamiliar. We are navigating by strange new stars; our usual maps and tools are insufficient, showing the necessity of reimagining long-term global security.

And yet: We must still chart a course forward. Indeed, moments of crisis carry not only profound danger but also transformative possibility. However dire our current situation may be, it still offers critical openings to correct past oversights, build new forms of resilience, and widen our gaze. Now is a time to understand that we can’t work on the component parts of the polycrisis in isolation from one another while the emerging properties of the whole grow all the more dangerous.

The good news is that there is demonstrable demand for seeding new forms of holistic problem-solving across previously siloed efforts in democracy protection, public health, climate action, social justice, and peace and security. The UN has called for radically new forms of collaboration through its Pact for the Future, a groundbreaking pledge to open “a new beginning in multilateralism” and “a new kind of international cooperation” in an effort to stave off “tipping into a future of persistent crisis and breakdown.” There are increasing calls for a 2.0 version of intersectionality that can drive more informed choices and strategies: “We need to decrease transaction costs for leaders to understand how decisions they make in their discrete spheres are affecting the broader system,” as one leader lamented to us; another urged the need to “involve these intersections in the process of decision-making.”

Read the full article about reimagining global security by Erika Gregory and Jenny Johnston at Stanford Social Innovation Review.