s the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the world, nations are scrambling to protect their population and industries from the potentially devastating socioeconomic effects of the virus. Governments are increasingly restricting travel—domestic and international—to reduce contagion. According to Pew Research Center, more than 90 percent of the world’s population now lives in countries that restrict certain people arriving from other countries.
Many governments and international organizations are also hastily deploying stimulus packages to aid citizens and companies ravaged by the sudden, drastic changes in financial and economic outlook. The World Bank and the IFC approved a $14 billion package to fast track financing to sustain economies and protect jobs. The United States recently passed a $2 trillion relief package—it’s largest in history—and the European Central Bank announced €750 billion in relief focused on flexible asset purchases meant to shore up the Euro. China is also working on an effort valued at $183 billion to jumpstarts its economy emerging from the crisis.
Despite these measures, markets continue to reel from the downturn rippling across the world, fueled by fears of uncertainties and grim forecasts, plunging the global economy into what International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva recently called a “recession.” With so much for each government to address domestically, the notion of nations working together to fight this pandemic may seem like a far-fetched fantasy.
End of Globalization?
In fact, even before COVID-19 pushed nations to fend for themselves and protect their own interests with extreme prejudice, the world was already headed down a path towards greater regionalism and jingoism. Despite facing challenges of immense proportions and global scale requiring global solutions, the world had moved on from the euphoria of globalization in the early 1990s, to an era of backlash against globalization.
Climate change dominated headlines with no clear path for an organized response or solution. The fake news bandwagon gathered momentum and tore at the fabric of democratic institutions. All the while, nationalistic sentiments emerged in the rhetoric of populist political strongmen who ascended to new heights of power around the world.
Given this backdrop, the global COVID-19 crisis has the potential to exacerbate the increasing division and push countries and their citizenry to adopt more reclusive and protectionist economic, social and political policies toward the rest of the world. With a vacuum in global leadership and geopolitical skirmishes rousing diplomatic tensions, the COVID-19 pandemic can easily be misused to disguise and justify isolationist policies as protective measures guarding against the debilitating impacts of the outbreak.
Throughout this pandemic, many affected countries have introduced an avalanche of measures to minimize the impact of the virus on public health and the economy, among other considerations. However, amidst this chaos, it is important to look through the noise and distinguish isolationist policies—such as calls for closed borders justified by political or ideological reasons—with isolation policies—such as calls for temporary cease of normal relations among countries justified by health reasons. Under the cover of a global pandemic, policies that undercut the foundation of a cooperative global society may slip into the core of governments around the world.
Our World
No single country can deal with a global crisis of this magnitude—with such existential consequences—on its own. The sheer scale of the challenges in the road ahead to recovery is just simply too much for any single country, or even a single region, to address alone.
If anything, this global pandemic has demonstrated the true extent to which we rely on each other to sustain the modern world and highlighted—albeit in an extremely painful and heartbreaking manner—certain weaknesses of our global, interconnected life. However, as much as certain elements of globalization may have exacerbated the extent and the scope of some of the impact of the pandemic (e.g., countries not yet hit by COVID-19 facing supply chain disruptions due to factory closures in another country), the same element may help in the long road to recovery, if we work together (e.g., countries hard-hit by COVID-19 receiving aid from countries ahead of the curve).
The COVID-19 pandemic is not a critical blow against globalization. It’s a harsh reminder of the fragility of the global system supporting our interconnected and interdependent world—not your world or my world, our world. We must learn from our mistakes, reassess existing systems, prepare for future responses and work to come back stronger, together. Global problems need global solutions, which, in turn, require all of us to work, together.
a global affairs media network
Global Problems Need Global Solutions
April 10, 2020
A
s the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the world, nations are scrambling to protect their population and industries from the potentially devastating socioeconomic effects of the virus. Governments are increasingly restricting travel—domestic and international—to reduce contagion. According to Pew Research Center, more than 90 percent of the world’s population now lives in countries that restrict certain people arriving from other countries.
Many governments and international organizations are also hastily deploying stimulus packages to aid citizens and companies ravaged by the sudden, drastic changes in financial and economic outlook. The World Bank and the IFC approved a $14 billion package to fast track financing to sustain economies and protect jobs. The United States recently passed a $2 trillion relief package—it’s largest in history—and the European Central Bank announced €750 billion in relief focused on flexible asset purchases meant to shore up the Euro. China is also working on an effort valued at $183 billion to jumpstarts its economy emerging from the crisis.
Despite these measures, markets continue to reel from the downturn rippling across the world, fueled by fears of uncertainties and grim forecasts, plunging the global economy into what International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva recently called a “recession.” With so much for each government to address domestically, the notion of nations working together to fight this pandemic may seem like a far-fetched fantasy.
End of Globalization?
In fact, even before COVID-19 pushed nations to fend for themselves and protect their own interests with extreme prejudice, the world was already headed down a path towards greater regionalism and jingoism. Despite facing challenges of immense proportions and global scale requiring global solutions, the world had moved on from the euphoria of globalization in the early 1990s, to an era of backlash against globalization.
Climate change dominated headlines with no clear path for an organized response or solution. The fake news bandwagon gathered momentum and tore at the fabric of democratic institutions. All the while, nationalistic sentiments emerged in the rhetoric of populist political strongmen who ascended to new heights of power around the world.
Given this backdrop, the global COVID-19 crisis has the potential to exacerbate the increasing division and push countries and their citizenry to adopt more reclusive and protectionist economic, social and political policies toward the rest of the world. With a vacuum in global leadership and geopolitical skirmishes rousing diplomatic tensions, the COVID-19 pandemic can easily be misused to disguise and justify isolationist policies as protective measures guarding against the debilitating impacts of the outbreak.
Throughout this pandemic, many affected countries have introduced an avalanche of measures to minimize the impact of the virus on public health and the economy, among other considerations. However, amidst this chaos, it is important to look through the noise and distinguish isolationist policies—such as calls for closed borders justified by political or ideological reasons—with isolation policies—such as calls for temporary cease of normal relations among countries justified by health reasons. Under the cover of a global pandemic, policies that undercut the foundation of a cooperative global society may slip into the core of governments around the world.
Our World
No single country can deal with a global crisis of this magnitude—with such existential consequences—on its own. The sheer scale of the challenges in the road ahead to recovery is just simply too much for any single country, or even a single region, to address alone.
If anything, this global pandemic has demonstrated the true extent to which we rely on each other to sustain the modern world and highlighted—albeit in an extremely painful and heartbreaking manner—certain weaknesses of our global, interconnected life. However, as much as certain elements of globalization may have exacerbated the extent and the scope of some of the impact of the pandemic (e.g., countries not yet hit by COVID-19 facing supply chain disruptions due to factory closures in another country), the same element may help in the long road to recovery, if we work together (e.g., countries hard-hit by COVID-19 receiving aid from countries ahead of the curve).
The COVID-19 pandemic is not a critical blow against globalization. It’s a harsh reminder of the fragility of the global system supporting our interconnected and interdependent world—not your world or my world, our world. We must learn from our mistakes, reassess existing systems, prepare for future responses and work to come back stronger, together. Global problems need global solutions, which, in turn, require all of us to work, together.
