Governing Complexity: Design Principles for Improving the Governance of Global Catastrophic Risks

Dr Tom Pegram and Julia Kreienkamp, UCL Global Governance Institute. 

This paper explores the implications of complexity thinking for governing global catastrophic risks (GCRs), in particular a new breed of super-complex GCRs. It offers a novel interrogation of why legacy governance structures are ‘not fit for purpose’ when it comes to responding to the complex drivers of GCRs. This assessment provides the basis for an exploration of systemic design principles which could serve to guide policymakers and other participants seeking to innovate upon existing governance configurations in the face of mounting global complexity and risk imperatives. This exercise suggests that establishing the right relationship between overlapping complicated and complex domains is a necessary condition for any design criteria underpinning governance of a viable global civilisation. 

The full research policy brief is available here: Governing Complexity: Design Principles for Improving the Governance of Global Catastrophic Risks [PDF]

This report was made possible by the support of the Global Challenges Foundation (GCF).