Fractured Foundations: The factors driving global instability

Introduction

In January 2026, the World Economic Forum launched its annual risk report with the assertion that, "As global risks continue to spiral in scale, interconnectivity and velocity, 2026 marks an age of competition. As cooperative mechanisms crumble, with governments retreating from multilateral frameworks, stability is under siege."

This statement – along with hundreds of others like it – exemplifies the current feeling of global uncertainty that the Verdantix Dislocation Index seeks to quantify. The sense that the world has fundamentally changed now pervades economic, business, political and diplomatic discourse. Perhaps most disconcertingly, it seems likely that rather than having moved from one order to another, we are instead moving through a prolonged transition period. To quote the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, “Buckle up: uncertainty is the new normal, and it’s here to stay”.

Underpinned by data from the Verdantix Dislocation Index (VDI), the aim of this report is to define some of the factors driving this instability and to try to quantify the ways in which they are impacting nine major economies.

Download the full report