Systemic risks are a product of profound and rapid technological, economic and social changes that the modern world experiences every day. They are characterised by high complexity, uncertainty, ambiguity, and ripple effects. Due to these characters systemic risks are overextending established risk management and creating new, unsolved challenges for policy making in risk governance. Their negative effects are often pervasive, impacting fields beyond the obvious primary areas of harm. The article relates to an integrative risk concept including evaluation criteria, different risk classes and corresponding management strategies for the handling of systemic risks. We argue that a deliberative approach is needed for risk management and policy making in risk governance to prevent, mitigate or control systemic risks. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0601330