The COVID-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Political Economy

Abstract

This paper continues the series of articles published in the journal devoted to the analysis of the challenges of the current global crises in terms of their impact on world politics and international relations. The authors highlight several features of the pandemic crisis of 2020–2021, in particular the “global empathy,” violation of the spatial logic of globalization and the spread of “infodemics”. The paper presents an extensive overview of current research on the Corona Crisis through the prism of social science. The common understanding of all the risks and dangers generated by interdependence, the vulnerability of the transitional world order, democratic institutions, and the inevitability of the common fate of humankind are all elements dictating the need for transnational cooperation, reforms in global governance, regional integration, and greater legitimation of supranational factors. The authors emphasize the importance of the “global health” category in international relations and its growing influence on the world order. It is emphasized that global risks derived from the ongoing crisis are inherently political. Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic provides a compelling basis for bringing anti-crisis policy to the forefront of research in the whole range of “crisisology disciplines” like political science, world economy, global studies and environmental political studies, social psychology, international relations, political forecasting, and theories of sustainable development. Finally, the article focuses on the emerging opportunities for Russia, the implementation of which is associated with maintaining biotechnological leadership in the development of vaccines and its transformation into the increasing international authority, trust, and soft power.

References

1. Ackerman, G., and Peterson, H. “Terrorism and COVID-19: Actual and Potential Impacts,” Perspectives on Terrorism, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2020, pp. 59–73. 
2. Allen, J. R., Garrett, L., Haass, R. N. et al. “The World After the Coronavirus,” Foreign Policy, No. 236, 2020, pp. 9–13. 
3. Anikin, A. V., and Portnoi, M. A. “Valiutnyi krizis i mezhimperialisticheskie protivorechiia,” Kommunist, No. 12, 1974, pp. 84–96. 
4. Arteta, C., and Kirby, P. “The Global Economic Growth Outlook in Five Charts: Fragile, Handle with Care,” World Bank Blogs, January 9, 2020, URL: https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/global-economic-growth-outlook-five-charts-fragile-handle-care 
5. Arzumanian, A. A. “Osobennosti poslevoennogo tsikla i nyneshnii krizis,” Problemy mira i sotsializma, No. 1, 1958, pp. 56–60. 
6. Arzumanian, A. A. Ekonomicheskie problemy obshchestvennogo razvitiia. Moscow: Nauka, 1968. 
7. Audureau, W. “Les discours antivaccin, bien implantés en France, ont redoublé de vigueur avec la crise sanitaire,” Le Monde, Juin 10, 2020, URL: https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2020/06/10/pour-les-antivaccins-les-deux-themes-dominan... 
8. Aydıntaşbaş, A., Hosa, J., Kelmendi, T. et al. “The Geopolitics of Covid Vaccines in Europe’s Eastern Neighbourhood,” European Council of Foreign Relations, January 27, 2021, URL: https://ecfr.eu/article/the-geopolitics-of-covid-vaccines-in-europes-eastern-neighbourhood 
9. Babkina, Z. “Ekonomicheskaia neustoichivost' kak forma uglubleniia obshchego krizisa kapitalizma,” Voprosy ekonomiki, No. 3, 1978, pp. 80–90. 
10. Batalov, E. Ia. Antropologiia mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii. Moscow: Aspekt Press, 2018. Baum, S., and Tonn, B. Futures, Vol. 72: Confronting Future Catastrophic Threats to Humanity, 2015. 
11.  Beck, U. “Ot industrial'nogo obshchestva k obshchestvu riska,” THESIS, No. 5, 1994, pp. 161–168. 
12. Beck, U. Obshchestvo riska. Na puti k drugomu modernu. Moscow: Progress-Traditsiia, 2000. 
13. Bel'chuk, A. I. Ekonomicheskie krizisy sovremennogo kapitalizma: tsiklicheskie, promezhutochnye i strukturnye. Moscow: Nauka, 1961. 
14. Biscop, S. Coronavirus and Power: The Impact upon International Politics. Brussels: Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations, 2020. URL: https://www.egmontinstitute.be/content/uploads/2020/03/SPB126-sven-corona-260320.pdf?type=pdf 
15.  Borrell, J. “The Post-coronavirus World Is Already Here: Policy Brief,” European Council of Foreign Relations, April 30, 2020, URL: https://ecfr.eu/publication/the_post_coronavirus_world_is_already_here
16. Bremmer, I. Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World. London: Penguin, 2012. 
17. Cameron, R. W. “Self-discipline in a Time of Terror,” Theoria: A Journal of Social & Political Theory, Vol. 114, No. 54, 2007, pp. 74–101. 
18. Cartwright, F., and Biddiss, M. Disease and History: Fr om Ancient Times to Covid-19. London: Thistle Publishing, 2014. 
19. Chandler, D. “Biopolitika i pod"em ‘antropotsentricheskogo avtoritarizma’,” Rossiia v global'noi politike, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2020, pp. 148–154. 
20. Cimmino, J., Kroenig, M., and Barry, P. Taking Stock: Wh ere Are Geopolitics Headed in the COVID-19 Era? Washington: Atlantic Council, 2020, URL: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/issue-brief/taking-stock-where-are-geopoli...  
21. Colgan, J., and Keohane, R. “The Liberal Order Is Rigged. Fix It Now or Watch It Wither,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 96, No. 3, 2017, pp. 36–44. 
22. Colman, F. J. “Digital Biopolitics: The Image of Life,” Resisting Biopolitics: Philosophical, Political and Performative Strategies, eds. S.E. Wilmer, and A. Zukauskaite. New York: Routledge, 2015, pp. 189–201. 
23. Davies, S. E., and Wenham, C. “Why the COVID-19 Response Needs International Relations,” International Affairs, Vol. 96, No. 5, 2020, pp. 1227–1251. 
24. Drezner, D. “The Song Remains the Same: International Relations after COVID-19,” International Organization, Vol. 74, Suppl. No. 1, 2020, pp. 18–35. 
25. Evdokimenko, A. S., Strizhova, E. A., Terekhova, E. S., Karas'kova, A. V., and Mikhnovets, D. A. “Psikhologicheskie posledstviia pervoi i vtoroi voln pandemii COVID-19,” ‘Chernyi lebed’ v beloi maske: Analiticheskii doklad NIU VShE k godovshchine pandemii COVID-19, eds. S. M. Plaksin, A. B. Zhulin, and S. A. Farizova. Moscow: Izd. dom Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki, 2021, pp. 149–177. URL: https://www.hse.ru/mirror/pubs/share/456528716.pdf 
26. Eyal, J. “Global Affairs: Covid-19’s Existential Threat to the EU,” The Straits Times, March 30, 2020, URL: https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/covid-19s-existential-threat-to-the-eu 
27. Ferguson, N. “A World without Power,” Foreign Policy, No. 143, 2004, pp. 32–39. 
28. Gadzhiev, K. S. “Turbulentsiia sovremennogo mira cherez prizmu koronavirusnoi pandemii,” Kontury global'nykh transformatsii: politika, ekonomika, parvo, . Vol. 13, No. 5, 2020, pp. 253–272. 
29. Gephart, W. “Vo imia ‘korony’,” Rossiia v global'noi politike, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2020, pp. 144–147. 
30. Global Britain in a Competitive Age: The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy Presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister by Command of Her Majesty. London: APS Group, 2021, URL: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/9694... 
31. Grinin, L. E., and Korotaev, A. V. Global'nyi krizis v retrospektive. Kratkaia istoriia pod"emov i krizisov: ot Likurga do Alana Grinspena. Moscow: Lenand, 2017. 
32. Gromyko, A. A. “Koronavirus kak faktor mirovoi politiki,” Nauchno-analiticheskii vestnik Instituta Evropy RAN, No. 2, 2020, pp. 5–13. 
33. Harris, K., Kimson, A., and Schwedel, A. Labor 2030: The Collision of Demographics, Automation and Inequality. Boston: Bain & Company, 2018, URL: https://media.bain.com/Images/BAIN_REPORT_Labor_2030.pdf 
34. Hatuel-Radoshitzky, M., Heistein, A., Bernes, T. at al. Challenges of Global Governance a Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. New York: The Council on Foreign Relations, 2020, URL: https://cdn.cfr.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/challenges-of-global-governance-amid-the-covid-19...
35. Hays, J. Epidemics and Pandemics: Their Impacts on Human History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005. 
36. Heymann, Ph. B. “Civil Liberties and Human Rights in the Aftermath of September 11,” Human Rights Magazine, Vol. 29, No 1, 2002, URL: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/human_rights_vol29_2...
37. Hobsbawm, E. Razlomannoe vremia. Kul'tura i obshchestvo v dvadtsatom veke, transl. N. Okhotin. Moscow: AST, 2017. 
38.  Hotez, P. “Vaccine Diplomacy,” Foreign Policy, No. 124, 2001, pp. 68–69. 
39. Hotez, P. “Vaccines as Instruments of Foreign Policy,” EMBO Reports, Vol. 2, No. 10, 2001, pp. 862–868. 
40. Hotez, P. Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021. 
41. Hoyt, K. “Vaccine Innovation: Lessons from World War II,” Journal of Public Health Policy, Vol. 27, No. 1, 2006, pp. 38–57. 
42. Hyde, R. “Von der Leyen Admits to COVID-19 Vaccine Failures,” The Lancet, Vol. 397, No. 10275, 2020, pp. 655–656. 
43. Ivanov, I. “Reshaping U.S. Smart Power: Towards a Post-pandemic Security Architecture,” Journal of Strategic Security, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2020, pp. 46–74. 
44. Izotov, V. S. “ ‘Miagkaia moshch’: obnovlennyi teoreticheskii kontsept i rossiiskaia model' dlia sborki,” Vestnik RUDN. Seriia: Politologiia, No. 4, 2011, pp. 146–155. 
45. Klaus, V. “Budushchee mezhdunarodnykh institutov razvitiia: mogut li ikh neudachi byt' eshche bol'shimi?” Mir peremen, No. 1, 2016, pp. 8–10. 
46. Kostin, A. I. (ed.) Politicheskaia globalistika: napravleniia issledovanii v usloviiakh global'noi neopredelennosti. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo universiteta, 2020. 
47. Kostin, A. I., and Izotov, V. S. “Integratsionnye sistemy v paradigme globalistiki: obnovlenie issledovatel'skikh podkhodov,” Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriia 12. Politicheskie nauki, No. 2, 2015, pp. 7–32. 
48. Kostin, A. I., and Izotov, V. S. “Perspektivy ustoichivogo razvitiia v usloviiakh mnogomernogo krizisa: pereosmyslenie kontseptov, kliuchevye faktory, usloviia uspekha,” Politicheskaia nauka, Supp. No., 2017, pp. 63–87. 
49. Kupchan, Ch. No One’s World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turn. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 
50. Lapkin, V. V. “Global'naia interliudiia: ot unipoliarnoi disfunktsii k novomu miroporiadku,” Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniia, No. 6, 2019, pp. 128–144. 
51. Lapkin, V. V., and Pantin, V. I. “Global'naia politiko-institutsional'naia dinamika v usloviiakh destabilizatsii miroporiadka (na primere stran ES i Rossii),” Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniia, No. 4, 2020, pp. 55–77. 
52. Laruelle, M., Troitskiy, M. et al. “Pandemic Politics in Eurasia: Roadmap for a New Research Subfield,” Problems of Post-Communism, Vol. 68, No. 1, 2021, pp. 1–16. 
53. Latour, B. “Is This a Dress Rehearsal?” Critical Enquiry, Vol. 47, Suppl. No. 2: Posts from the Pandemic, 2020, pp. 25–27. 
54. Lind, M. “A Concert-balance Strategy for a Multipolar World,” Parameters: Journal of the US Army War College, Vol. 38, No. 3, 2008, pp. 48–60. 
55. Lipscy, P. “COVID-19 and the Politics of Crisis,” International Organization, Vol. 74, Suppl. No. 1, 2020, pp. 98–127. 
56. Lukin, A. L. “Koronavirus mozhet uskorit' formirovanie novoi konfrontatsionnoi bipoliarnosti,” Valdai: Mezhdunarodnyi diskussionnyi klub, March 16, 2020, URL: https://ru.valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/koronavirus-formirovanie-bipolyarnost/
57. Maureira, M., and Tirado, F. “The Epidemiological Factor: A Genealogy of the Link between Medicine and Politics,” International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 21, No. 5, 2018, pp. 505–519. 
58.  McInnes, C., and Lee, K. Global Health and International Relations. Cambridge: Polity, 2012. 
59. Naidoo, R., and Fisher, B. “Reset Sustainable Development Goals for a Pandemic World,” Nature, Vol. 583, July 9, 2020, pp. 198–201. 
60. Nazaretian, A. P. “XXI vek i «ustarevshaia filosofiia» (po povodu iubileinogo doklada Rimskomu klubu),” Obshchestvennye nauki i sovremennost', No. 4, 2018, pp. 160–177. 
61. Neklessa, A. I. “Privatizatsiia budushchego. Dvizhenie k novoi semantike, kontseptsii i praktike mira,” Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniia, No. 2, 2020, pp. 153–166. 
62. Norrlöf, C. “Is Covid-19 a Liberal Democratic Curse? Risks for Liberal International Order,” Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Vol. 33, No. 5, 2020, pp. 799–813. 
63. Polozhenie del v oblasti prodovol'stvennoi bezopasnosti i pitaniia v mire — 2019. Mery zashchity ot zamedleniia rosta ekonomiki i ekonomicheskikh spadov. Rim: Prodovol'stvennaia i sel'skokhoziaistvennaia organizatsiia Ob"edinennykh Natsii, 2019, URL: http://www.fao.org/3/ca5162ru/ca5162ru.pdf 
64. Ponomareva, E. G. “Serbiia: kontrudar v voine vaktsin,” MGIMO-Universitet, March 16, 2021, URL: https://mgimo.ru/about/news/experts/serbiya-kontrudar-v-voyne-vaktsin/
65. Rogoff, K. “That 1970s Feeling,” Project Syndicate, March 2, 2020, URL: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/next-global-recession-hits-the-supply-side-by-kenneth-r... 
66. Rudd, K. “The Coming Post-COVID Anarchy: The Pandemic Bodes Ill for Both American and Chinese Power — and for the Global Power,” Foreign Affairs, May 6, 2020, URL: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-05-06/coming-post-covid-anarchy 
67. Semenenko, I. S. (ed.) Gosudarstvo v politicheskoi nauke i sotsial'noi real'nosti XXI veka. Moscow: Ves' Mir, 2020. 
68. Shah, S. Pandemiia: vsemirnaia istoriia smertel'nykh virusov. Moscow: Al'pina non-fikshn, 2018. 
69. Simons, G. “The Corona Virus Pandemic and Global Transformations: Making or Breaking International Orders?” Kontury global'nykh transformatsii: politika, ekonomika, pravo, Vol. 13, No. 5, 2020, pp. 20–37. 
70. Snowden, F. Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019. 
71. Sсheidel, W. “Kak epidemii vliiaiut na mir,” Vedomosti ugolovno-ispolnitel'noi sistemy, No. 6, 2020, pp. 78–80. 
72. Temple, J. “The Pandemic Taught Us How not to Deal with Climate Change,” MIT Technology Review, January 1, 2021, URL: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/01/01/1015533/covid-lessons-for-climate-change-emissions-renew...
73. Thomas, С. “On the Health of International Relations and the International Relations of Health,” Review of International Studies, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1989, pp. 273–280. 
74. Tonn, B., and Stiefel, D. “Evaluating Methods for Estimating Existential Risks,” Risk Analysis, Vol. 33, No. 10, 2013, pp. 1772–1787. 
75. Tsygankov, P. A. Politicheskaia dinamika sovremennogo mira: teoriia i praktika. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo universiteta, 2014. 
76. Wallerstein, I. “Strukturnoe krizisy,” Sovremennaia nauka o mezhdunarodnykh otnosheniiakh za rubezhom: Khrestomatiia: In 3 vol.. ed. I. S. Ivanov, Vol. 1. Moscow: NP RSMD, 2015, pp. 653–663. 
77. Wilkinson, D. “Unipolarity without Hegemony,” International Studies Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1999, pp. 141–172. 
78. World Economic Outlook: Global Manufacturing Downturn. Rising Trade Barriers. Washington: International Monetary Fund, 2019, URL: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2019/10/01/world-economic-outlook-october-2019 
79. Zhiwu, C. “China’s Dangerous Debt. Why the Economy Could Be Headed for Trouble,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 94, No. 3, 2015, pp. 13–18.