The Forever Crisis: Adaptive Global Governance for an Era of Accelerating Complexity

Today’s polycrisis means we are locked in perpetual battle against risks that feel one step ahead of us. Whether the accel­erating impacts of climate change, newly emerging deadly viruses, fast-spreading wars, or artificial general intelligence, our responses are slow and often poorly fit to the problem. On UN Day, join us for a book talk with Professor Adam Day on his new book The Forever Crisis that offers an innovative approach to global governance in an era of interrelated planetary challenges. Day, who also serves as Head of the Geneva Office of UN University Centre for Policy Research, argues that the complexity of today’s risks requires a complex, adaptive response. Drawing from complex systems like ant colonies, central nervous systems, galaxies, and markets, The Forever Crisis offers concrete, actionable proposals for evolving our global governance system. It provides scholars and policymakers with a dynamic approach to addressing the systemic risks facing the planet today and tomorrow. 

About the author
Adam Day is the Head of the Geneva Office of UN University Centre for Policy Research, Research Lead for the Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board, and visiting faculty at both SIPA and the Geneva Graduate Institute. Previously, he served as a senior political advisor to the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in political roles in UN missions in Sudan, South Sudan, the Middle East and the UN Secretariat. Recently he supported the Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda report and the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism. His prior book, States of Disorder (Oxford U. Press, 2021) applies complexity thinking to conflict settings. The Forever Crisis is available here.

Panel:

• Adam Day, SIPA Professor & Head, Geneva Office, UNU Centre for Policy Research, author of “The Forever Crisis"

• Michèle Griffin, Director of Our Common Agenda and the Summit of the Future, Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General

• Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of Practice in International and Public Affairs and Director, International Conflict Resolution, SIPA-Columbia