Continuing CRJ’s series of discussion articles, Patrick Lagadec says that we have been thrown into a world that is losing both its bearings and its frontiers - and that we must acquire the new aptitudes called for by the rapid changes in the world of risks and crises on every front. Here we are, thrown into a world that is losing both its bearings and its frontiers. We have moved from the accidental – a specific breakdown on a globally stable terrain – to the chaotic: a deeply and lastingly de-structured terrain, a matrix ridden with security problems whose laws escape us. Yet a number of dimensions - which interplay - underlie and determine this terrain of chaos. From local to global and global to local: the opening round was fired 20 years ago at Chernobyl (1986). Yet increasingly, global turbulence also affects particular potential risks; it is a threat inherent in all planetary 'whirlwinds', whether it be a matter of climate, environment, public health or terrorism. The full text appears in Volume 2 Issue 3 of the Crisis Response Journal. Click here for further details