Polytunity

Written By Yuen Yuen Ang

Term

Polytunity

Citable Version (DOI): http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5624730

Idea level

Others: counter-narrative & call to action

Definition

Coined by Yuen Yuen Ang in 2024, polytunity reframes the current era of global disruption as a generational opening for deep, constructive transformation, in contrast to the fear-driven, Eurocentric framing of polycrisis. Ang advances AIM (Adaptive, Inclusive, Moral) Political Economy as an intellectual foundation for this moment of possibility. Beyond a counter-narrative, polytunity is also a call to action—an invitation to changemakers worldwide to harness disruption to drive transformation across regions and sectors.

Sources

Node reference page

  • Ang, Y.Y. (2025) “Polytunity.” Webpage on Ang’s official website. [Link]

First public articulation

  • Ang, Y.Y. “Development in a Time of Disruption,” Keynote Address at the UNDP Global Leadership Retreat. 27 November 2024. (Transcript) (Video)

  • Ang, Y.Y. “Doing Development in the Polycrisis,” Project Syndicate, 25 Nov 2024. (Reprinted at UNDP)

Foundational Essays

Genealogy

[Concept] Polytunity as concept and call to action (in contrast to paralysis of polycrisis)

→ [Paradigm] AIM: Adaptive, Inclusive, Moral Political Economy

→ [Application: Development] Critiques industrial-colonial paradigm and calls for new research and policy agendas (Ideas Letter)

→ [Application: Global & Historical Trends] Names expiration of post-1945 order as polytunity, not just polycrisis (Project Syndicate)

Quotes

“For those clinging to the old order, these changes feel threatening. But for anyone willing to adopt a disruptive spirit, this is a polytunity. It’s a rare chance to question the industrial-colonial paradigm and replace it with something suited for a complex, multipolar world.”

— Ang, Keynote at UNDP (2024)

“If polycrisis names the breakdown of the old order, polytunity names the opening it creates.

If polycrisis is Eurocentric, polytunity strives to be truly global.

If polycrisis is therapy through fear-naming, polytunity is a call to action.”

— Ang, Polytunity (2025)

“I see the same moment through a different lens – as polytunity… Simultaneous disruptions offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the deep transformation of global institutions and ideas. When everything seems to crumble at once, we are forced to go beyond patchwork solutions and redesign systems from the ground up.”

— Ang, The Global Polytunity (2025)

“[2025] marks the year the postwar global order expired, and a new one was about to be born… it is little wonder that Western leaders and thinkers have been feeling overwhelmed by the ‘polycrisis’… Rather than simply naming the death of the old, we must ask what might replace it. We should view this moment not as a polycrisis, but as a ‘polytunity’ – a generational opening for global transformation from the margins.

Whether the world seizes the polytunity or succumbs to the polycrisis depends fundamentally on mindset. And nowhere is a mindset shift more urgent than among the global majority, which has more potential for agency today than it ever did before.”

— Ang, The World Order After 2025 (2025)

Programs & Courses

  • Faculty Lab: The Polytunity Project, directed by Ang at JHU, inviting changemakers worldwide to carry AIM forward—seizing polytunity to drive transformation across regions and fields.

  • University Course: “From Polycrisis to Polytunity,” Taught at Johns Hopkins University in Spring 2026. See course description here: https://www.yuenyuenang.org/teach.

  • Polytunity Substack: For updates, please follow us on Substack.

Multilingual Translations of “Polytunity”

  • Chinese Simplified - 多重机遇: Business Times (Singapore), Lianhe Zaobao (Singapore)

  • Chinese Traditional - 多重機遇: Up Media (Taiwan), HK Economic Journal [HK]

  • Croatian - Politunitet: Poslovni dnevnik

  • Farsi - رصت‌های چندگانه جهانی: Atlas Diplomacy

  • Korean: 다중기회 (g-news)

  • German - Polykrisen-und-Polytunity: Taz

  • Italian - Poliopportunità: SERGIO FARRIS at Substack

  • Romanian - Polytunitatea: Economistul

  • Spanish: Poliunidad (Listin Diario [Dominican Republic], La Prensa [Nicaragua] / Politunidad: (Perfil [Argentina])

  • English-language reprints have appeared in Arab News (Saudi Arabia), ASEAN Frontier, Business Times (Singapore), Jamaica Gleaner (Jamaica), Manila Times (Philippines), New Zealand Interest (New Zealand), ODI (U.K.), Pak Banker (Pakistan), ThinkChina (Singapore), Yicai (China).

Yuen Yuen Ang https://www.yuenyuenang.org
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