Covid-19 and Globalization | Sajid Ali

“There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happen,” Vladimir Lenin,the former premier of Soviet Union .

Although globalization was far from stability prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic ,it has experienced a severe blow with the arrival of Covid -19 pandemic within a short time .Before the striking of the pandemic,the world was indulged in the fight between the two largest economies -China and the United states.As a result, globalization showed its declination in the realm of trade liberalism. Now,another invisible enemy has hit the globalized world hardly.

The Covid-19 has unleashed positive as well as negative ramifications for the globalized world.The positives are: creating realization to forge collective efforts for search of the vaccine against the virus;setting up mechanism to contribute funds for developing economies ;reinforcing the idea of liberal institutionalism to focus on fighting non-traditional Security threats together,and so on. On negative side, the coronavirus has caused havoc on various fronts of globalization.Some are: disrupting supply chains,closure of transnational borders ,changing nature of security ,reinforcing authoritarianism and triggering nationalism.

Nontheless,the virus has also provided a room to transform ills of globalism into opportunity.In this respect,some remedial measures can provide a sigh of relief to globalism amid the pandemic .These may include:making joint efforts to ensure global vaccination drive ,especially boosting up fund in the current COVAX arrangement under the world Health Organization;financially helping low -and middle-income countries to cement their efforts against fighting the impacts of the pandemic;redefining security policy by nation-states around the world through inclusion of non-traditional security threats like Covid -19 into their security prism.

To cut long story short, the covid-19 has hit globalization hardly ,but rectification of ills brought by it can ensure stability and normalcy of the globalized world .