A New Cosmology of Risks and Crises: Time for a Radical Shift in Paradigm and Practice

Abstract

Our current system for homeland security does not provide the necessary framework to manage the challenges posed by 21st‐Century catastrophic threats. The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina–Lessons Learned The White House (2006, 52) AbstractCrises in the twenty‐first century differ—structurally—from those we had to deal with in the last century. Crises of the twentieth century were traditionally defined and handled as a combination of “threat, urgency, and uncertainty.” Today, crises are better described in terms of a destruction of vital references and a dynamic of systemic implosions. If crises were once a type of severe, dynamic accident, they are now the essential mode of life in our hypercomplex systems. These transboundary crises mark a watershed between mind‐sets and tools of the past, and the new strategic landscape that we are now in. The intellectual and governance challenges are extreme. But looking back is not an option. It is vital to forge new routes into Terrae Incognitae. The goal of this article is to help build (1) a renewed understanding of the emerging challenges we face; and (2) a better strategic response to these systemic dislocations.