Explore the vast range of titles available.

This paper by an international team around MaREI – the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) national Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine research and innovation – builds on two previous papers.1 The underlying model of the “deep institutional innovation” (DIIS) – team posits that societal transformations occur at specific moments in history. It is the premise of the three papers that we are now at such a historical tipping point. Climate change, environmental degradation and a biodiversity crisis, marked increases in inequality, economic crises, the rise of populism, rising geo-political tensions, the effects of increased globalisation, and ongoing religious and ethnic conflicts provide clear evidence that current social institutions are not optimal, either for human flourishing or for addressing global challenges. Meta-institutions around economics, culture, religion, education, politics (to name just a few) need to be fundamentally re-imagined. The coronavirus pandemic has brought this dangerous reality into even starker relief, as it highlights the interconnectedness and the sheer fragility of our globalised socio-economic-environmental system. The authors draw on the models of Kellerman (2012) and Padilla et al. (2007). This triangular model of ‘leaders-followers-context’ emphasises the critical influence of societal and organisational context in affecting followers’ demands and expectations and in empowering particular types of leaders. They describe that underlying changes in the dynamics lead to tipping points that necessitate systemic change. At such historical moments – and facing our present societal “wicked problems”2 accelerates such a dynamic – the prevalence of particular sources of toxicity, if they are not constrained, can tip the balance of the transformation to outcomes that are severely detrimental to the public good.