Systemkrise

Systemkrise, or systemic crisis, is a term used in sociology, political science, and economics to describe a crisis that threatens the functioning or legitimacy of an entire system rather than a single component. It involves interdependent parts where disturbances in one area propagate through feedback loops, potentially triggering widespread disruption or regime change across governance, markets, or social order.

The concept emphasizes complexity and interdependence: systems exhibit nonlinear dynamics, tipping points, and cascading failures. Indicators include rising systemic risk, policy paralysis, erosion of public trust, cross-sector spillovers, and rapid shifts in social or political equilibria.

Causes are diverse and often interact: structural imbalances accumulated over time; external shocks; governance failures; regulatory gaps; technological disruption; economic or social inequality; environmental stress. Systemic crises may be gradual, with precursors, or abrupt, following a shock that exposes latent fragilities.

In analysis, the term is often used alongside systemic risk in finance, resilience in sustainability studies, and crisis management. It is sometimes criticized as imprecise if not specified to a particular domain or mechanism; critics warn that it can obscure causal detail by focusing on the system as a whole.

Examples include financial-system crises that cascade through markets and institutions, large-scale governance or legitimacy crises, and ecological or climate-related crises that threaten social and economic systems.

Related concepts include systemic risk, regime shift, resilience, and interdependent shocks.