The Interconnection of Global Crises

A live map of how today's crises feed into one another — 4,927 documented transmission links between seven crises over the past 12 months.

What is a polycrisis?

A polycrisis is a situation in which several crises unfold at the same time and interact, so that their combined effect is worse than the sum of the parts. The term was revived by historian Adam Tooze and adopted by the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2023. The point is not that there are many crises at once — it is that they are coupled: a strike on a Gulf pipeline moves oil prices, which moves fertiliser and food prices, which moves migration and elections far away.

POLYCRISIS.WORLD makes that coupling measurable. We monitor Iran, Ukraine, Gaza, the South China Sea, climate, US domestic politics and the AI race; extract geolocated events from 100+ news feeds with AI; and record each concrete transmission link between crises — its mechanism (energy, military, supply chain, economic, diplomatic, migration, technology), its strength, and the news events that evidence it.

Network of seven monitored crises; line thickness shows how many documented transmission links connect each pairGaza ↔ AI / AGI: 28 documented linksGaza ↔ AI / AGI: 28 documented linksUkraine ↔ Gaza: 38 documented linksUkraine ↔ Gaza: 38 documented linksUnited States ↔ AI / AGI: 91 documented linksUnited States ↔ AI / AGI: 91 documented linksSouth China Sea ↔ United States: 99 documented linksSouth China Sea ↔ United States: 99 documented linksUkraine ↔ United States: 104 documented linksUkraine ↔ United States: 104 documented linksGaza ↔ South China Sea: 118 documented linksGaza ↔ South China Sea: 118 documented linksUkraine ↔ South China Sea: 129 documented linksUkraine ↔ South China Sea: 129 documented linksSouth China Sea ↔ AI / AGI: 136 documented linksSouth China Sea ↔ AI / AGI: 136 documented linksGaza ↔ Climate: 146 documented linksGaza ↔ Climate: 146 documented linksIran ↔ AI / AGI: 154 documented linksIran ↔ AI / AGI: 154 documented linksClimate ↔ AI / AGI: 155 documented linksClimate ↔ AI / AGI: 155 documented linksGaza ↔ United States: 162 documented linksGaza ↔ United States: 162 documented linksIran ↔ United States: 168 documented linksIran ↔ United States: 168 documented linksSouth China Sea ↔ Climate: 194 documented linksSouth China Sea ↔ Climate: 194 documented linksUkraine ↔ AI / AGI: 226 documented linksUkraine ↔ AI / AGI: 226 documented linksUkraine ↔ Climate: 303 documented linksUkraine ↔ Climate: 303 documented linksClimate ↔ United States: 436 documented linksClimate ↔ United States: 436 documented linksIran ↔ Ukraine: 491 documented linksIran ↔ Ukraine: 491 documented linksIran ↔ Gaza: 495 documented linksIran ↔ Gaza: 495 documented linksIran ↔ Climate: 601 documented linksIran ↔ Climate: 601 documented linksIran ↔ South China Sea: 653 documented linksIran ↔ South China Sea: 653 documented linksIranIranUkraineUkraineGazaGazaSouth China SeaSouth China SeaClimateClimateUnited StatesUnited StatesAI / AGIAI / AGI

Seven monitored crises. Line thickness = number of documented links between each pair (past 12 months). Click a line to see how that pair is connected. Strongest right now: Iran ↔ South China Sea (653 links); Iran ↔ Climate (601 links); Iran ↔ Gaza (495 links).

Every connected pair

PairLinksMain channelsLatest
Iran ↔ South China Sea653energy, military, diplomatic2026-09-15
Iran ↔ Climate601energy, economic, military2026-09-04
Iran ↔ Gaza495military, diplomatic, energy2026-09-18
Iran ↔ Ukraine491military, diplomatic, energy2026-09-15
Climate ↔ United States436migration, economic, supply chain2026-09-25
Ukraine ↔ Climate303energy, supply chain, economic2026-09-04
Ukraine ↔ AI / AGI226technology, military, energy2026-09-25
South China Sea ↔ Climate194energy, supply chain, economic2026-09-15
Iran ↔ United States168energy, economic, diplomatic2026-09-25
Gaza ↔ United States162migration, diplomatic, military2026-09-24
Climate ↔ AI / AGI155energy, technology, economic2026-09-25
Iran ↔ AI / AGI154technology, military, economic2026-09-18
Gaza ↔ Climate146supply chain, energy, humanitarian2026-08-20
South China Sea ↔ AI / AGI136technology, supply chain, military2026-09-15
Ukraine ↔ South China Sea129military, diplomatic, supply chain2026-09-25
Gaza ↔ South China Sea118diplomatic, military, energy2026-09-14
Ukraine ↔ United States104diplomatic, migration, military2026-09-25
South China Sea ↔ United States99diplomatic, military, migration2026-09-18
United States ↔ AI / AGI91technology, economic, diplomatic2026-09-09
Ukraine ↔ Gaza38diplomatic, military, supply chain2026-06-30
Gaza ↔ AI / AGI28technology, diplomatic, military2026-09-08

How to read the connections

Each pair page shows both directions separately — how A affects B, and how B affects A — because transmission is rarely symmetric. Iran's pressure on Gulf shipping reaches the South China Sea through energy markets and US naval deployments; the reverse channel is much thinner. Links are grouped by mechanism, rated weak / moderate / strong, and backed by the headlines they were extracted from. Scenario links show how one crisis's possible futures raise the odds of another's.

In the live dashboard the same graph is interactive and updates daily; developers can pull it from the API (/api/v1/connections) or from AI assistants through the MCP server. Teachers: see classroom exercises built on these pages.

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