Global Economic & Social Collapse Scenarios

Financial / Economic collapse

Collapse from a single localized disaster

  • Peak Oil
  • US economy collapse (With possible link to Peak Oil)

Collapse from a synchronous global economic disaster

  • Global environmental disaster
    • E.g. Ice Age from the diversion/alteration of the Atlantic current, high intensity volcanic event.
  • Indirect natural phenomena eg. Solar Storm causing massive electromagnetic bombardment and consequent disruptions and destruction of electronically driven equipment globally

Social / Civil collapse
As resulting from an economic collapse:

  • Civil disorder due to disruption of regular systems
    • E.g. Loss of electronic machines on a global scale.
      • Food production stops
      • Hospital and other medical services fail.
  • Conflict between groups over limited resources leading to collapse of previous social order.

Social collapse of a specific area/nation due to conflict

  • Civil war (can be associated with an economic collapse as the initial cause)

Social collapse of a global scale due to conflict

  • World war
  • Nuclear holocaust event

Social collapse of a global scale due to biological agent

  • Global pandemic
  • Global virus epidemic e.g.  SARS, Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS

 

Consequences and Results of Economic & subsequent Social collapse

Single localized economic disaster (e.g. peak oil )

  • Possible a total economic crash as the resource gets harder to extract, causing increased product costs. Consequently the economy will face crisis as it will draw money from taxes to continue to pay for oil, or not and face immediate and catastrophic collapse. Machines will stop running because they have no power. Food will cease to be produced and processed as a result as well as any number of essential requirements e.g. water, gas, electorisity and so on which will cause civil unrest and subsequent and massive social collapse. Eventually either the production of oil will cease due to the lack of ability to do so at all, or it will run out completely. The latter is unavoidable and the best case scenario as it is unlikely that we will last that long.
  • US economic collapse can have implications on the entire world’s functioning, economically, as oil for instance is in US dollars as standard currency.

Synchronous Global Economic and resulting Social Disaster

  • Ica age is a common and well known theory of end of civilization scenario associated with that of the presently hard pressed issue of climate change. Such an event will have a global effect and will also occur very quickly causing instantaneous economic collapse. Such an event will essentially obliterate modern civilization as we know it, either by directly destroying it, or by indirectly destroying it through the ensuing social collapse which will occur globally.

Worst Case Scenario & Best Case Scenarios Best case:

Generalized Economic collapse & social breakdown

Best Case:
  • Individual nation, or a continent has an economic collapse similar ot that of the depression of 1929-30
    • Large unemployment retes will cause heightened crime rate to occur
    • Temporary currency devaluation due to massive inflation
    • Eventual stabilization of the economy
  • Applicable causes:
    • Economic depression due to incorrect handling of financial affairs (banks etc.)
    • Small, partially global or nation specific natural disaster event (e.g. Volcano, Intense and extensive whether event)
    • Stock market crash or similar.