Policy brief no. 20 | September 2026
By Gudrun Zagel
The world is experiencing a polycrisis in which climate change, food insecurity, public health shocks, migration pressures, and geopolitical disruptions interact to produce cascading social and economic effects. Law is an essential instrument for addressing polycrises because it can organize and steer social behaviour through generally applicable rules. However, existing national and international legal frameworks can also contribute to crises when they fail to prevent and manage them effectively. This policy brief explains how polycrisis challenges legal systems by exploring the relationship between polycrisis and law, and recommends substantive and procedural measures to lawmakers, policymakers, and NGOs to create robust and effective national and international legal frameworks that are responsive to polycrises.
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