On a planetary scale, the political and economic order is designed on patterns that defy preceding experiences. Their coordinates are established around explanatory axes which gain importance day by day: unsafety and catastrophe are nowadays part of the metalanguage of politics. However, there exists a profound historic diversity in these two concepts which appear to be unifying, and which describes a scenario where humanity is supposed to be under a permanent and inevitable threat. Thus, to determine the genealogy of unsafety and catastrophe is a fundamental task of our times. When have these concepts arisen? How have they been used at different times in history? What political thought imposes itself under the sign of permanent catastrophe? And finally, how is it possible to think of these concepts politically?