Covid

The last seven months have had an extraordinary impact on our lives, locally, nationally, and globally. It would be appropriate to state that COVID-19 has reached even the remotest parts of the globe, and not a single country has been able to produce a solution that could revert life to normal again. The World Health Organization, an institution designed to identify, track, and contain the threat of such outbreaks, appears incapable of doing just that. Countries have locked down entire cities and closed their borders to both friend and foe. Historically, these are not firsts; the novel coronavirus is not the first and certainly not the last disease nor pandemic that humankind has faced. Transnational challenges, particularly diseases and environmental devestation, has served as a powerful catalyst in balancing power in battle and diplomatic and economic relations among states. From before the Peloponnesian War to the Napoleonic age, disease has affected the balance of power and, pandemics have had a pronounced effect on international relations. In some cases, such as Spain’s encounter with the Aztecs and Incas, a disease such as measles was far more effective than muskets in aiding and abetting the New World’s territorial conquest. In other instances, such as Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, disease was a great leveler. Typhus and dysentery overwhelmed the Grande Armée; Napoleon lost 120,000 troops in the weeks leading up to Moscow’s seizure, which alone tipped the battle’s balance. Cooperation among states is not and has never been flawless. While there has been no armed territorial conflict between the great powers since World War II, power games and challenges, such as those of the Cold War period, have remained constant among major world powers. As the 20th century’s power struggles focused on economic and military strength challenges among states, the global system’s general architecture remained constant. Therefore, as the year 2020 concludes, many question whether a worldwide pandemic has the force to change the fundamental nature of international relations? Is it likely to foster international cooperation, or will it promote disintegrative tendencies within the global system–as nations seek to disconnect themselves? Could Covid-19 be a catalyst for some countries to seize the opportunity and gain an advantage in the context of global power competition?

HEW 304 TEST UNIT 6 DUE 11-16 What International Relations Tells Us about COVID-19 (2) Why the COVID-19 response needs International Relations (4)