The 5th Dernet International Conference on “Decentralization and the Governance of Extreme Events” was held in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia (Spain), on May 12–13, 2022. Directed by Ignacio Lago (Universitat Pompeu Fabra and GEN), Santiago Lago-Peñas (GEN–University of Vigo), and Jorge Martínez-Vázquez (Georgia State University and GEN), the event brought together renowned international scholars to analyze how decentralized governance shapes the response to crises such as natural disasters, pandemics, terrorist attacks, and financial emergencies. Across two days of panels, participants explored the effects of decentralization on mortality rates, emergency coordination, budgetary crises, political dynamics, and resilience in the face of extreme events. By fostering rigorous debate and comparative perspectives from Europe, Asia, and the Americas, the conference shed light on the opportunities and challenges that decentralized systems face when managing extraordinary shocks