A multi-stakeholder approach to risk resiliency

Abstract

Profound technological disruption — what has come to be termed the Fourth Industrial Revolution — and fractures within the geopolitical system are shaping the global risk horizon. This paper uses data from the World Economic Forum’s 2018–2019 Global Risks Perception Survey and the Global Risks Report 2019 to identify how these two factors are adding complexity to the global community’s ability to manage the primary economic, environmental and technological risks facing the world today. Specifically, the paper points to the danger of a risk-response divergence: as the magnitude and complexity of global risks are growing, the desire of stakeholders to address these risks in concert through multilateral entities appears to be diminishing. Yet, there is promise in the growth of multi-stakeholder initiatives that bring together business, government and other parties in pursuit of mitigating common risk. In surveying these initiatives at the global and national levels, the paper considers the specific benefits a multistakeholder approach brings to risk resiliency.