Future Global Shocks is an in-depth examination of how major disruptive events such as pandemics, financial crises, critical infrastructure failure, and civic unrest can spread through economic and social systems. Often events begin as small local events, but their impacts may rapidly propagate across national frontiers, producing major international crises.
Building on analyses of episodes such as the avian and swine flu outbreaks, the recent financial market meltdown, and cyber attacks on government and industrial IT networks, the book explores the driving forces behind potential global shocks of the future. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches to the management of global shocks, and sets out proposals that aim to improve the resilience of economic and social systems to such damaging disruptions.