Friday, May 1, 2020

Some things won't change post the pandemic!

For many the pandemic could be a turning point in history. That moment, when the world realises that it is not going to be business as usual. It could lead to tremendous changes. In the trade world, the argument is that it could lead to a shift to more protectionism and globalisation will see its demise.

Richard Hass has a brilliant piece on what the pandemic has in store - he opines that nothing much will change. Things will just get exacerbated.

In his piece, The Pandemic will accelerate history rather than reshape it in the Foreign Affairs, he brings out the view that this pandemic will not be a turning point - history will indicate that what has been happening for years will continue to take place, albeit at a faster pace!
But the world following the pandemic is unlikely to be radically different from the one that preceded it. COVID-19 will not so much change the basic direction of world history as accelerate it. The pandemic and the response to it have revealed and reinforced the fundamental characteristics of geopolitics today. As a result, this crisis promises to be less of a turning point than a way station along the road that the world has been traveling for the past few decades.
Several striking arguments in this piece that are irrefutable:

1. The crisis has led to more concerted national and sub-national action to fight the pandemic than the ideal global co-operation that is expected during a global crisis. The "international community" rising up to meet the challenge seems to be a mirage.
2. Nations have been chalking out strategies in isolation without a global leader pursuing a common world-wide strategy (not bad in itself)
3.Existing policies like resistance to migration, the unwillingness to accept the developed-developing country gap will widen.
4. A robust international order will just not emerge.

For some, the crisis of geopolitics awaiting the end of the epidemic will be more serious than the current pandemic.

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