Michael Lawrence

Dr. Michael Lawrence (he/his/him) is a Research Fellow on the Polycrisis program at the Cascade Institute (Royal Roads University, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) where he examines the causal mechanisms of crisis interactions across such global systems as governance, energy, food, economy, climate, ecology, and international security. He also developed the website Polycrisis.org, leads the Cascade Institute’s production of pedagogical tools on complex systems thinking, and serves as Section Editor for the special edition “Polycrisis in the Anthropocene” of the journal Global Sustainability.

He earned his PhD in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), where his dissertation used complex systems thinking to trace the co-evolution of world order and violent conflict. It builds on longstanding work in the fields of peace, conflict, and security studies; globalization and global governance; world history; and political economy.

Michael’s research interests and publications span a range of topics, including: societal collapse, statebuilding and state formation, international peace operations, the psychology of mass violence, transnational organized crime, social ontology, and applications of complexity thinking in the social sciences. He also teaches at the University of Waterloo on complex systems approaches to global governance, foreign policy, and conflict resolution. He has also co-instructed courses at the University of Toronto on culture and human security, and on the intersection of art, history, and politics in twentieth century Berlin. His other professional experiences include work with the Colombian Campaign Against Landmines, the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and Security Governance Group.

Outside of academia, Michael has a passion for woodworking, travel, and the arts. He lives in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada with his wife and their three-year-old son.