‘PANDEMIC DIPLOMACY’ AND THE POLITICS OF PARADOX: INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE AGE OF NATIONAL DISTANCING

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War no development has unravelled the international political system as much as COVID-19 pandemic. A health crisis is reshaping international politics, undermining global economy, frustrating global climate change talks, and creating several new challenges for diplomacy. Paradoxically, the world is coming together to combat a disease in a time of international travel bans, border closures and national distancing. In another dimension, nationalism is trumping internationalism in a time of global pandemic, where international cooperation offers hope. While the pandemic heralds a new order of international politics and diplomacy given its many legacies and challenges, it sustains the old order of super power rivalry, competition and cooperation. As COVID-19 pandemic untangles, political and diplomatic contradictions reinforce inter-state relations and create uncertainties around the prospects of vaccine development and the nature of post-COVID-19 world order. This study seeks to interrogate diplomatic practices of COVID-19 and how they have shaped global politics and diplomacy since the outbreak of the pandemic. The study argues that COVID-19 is a diplomatic and political paradox, and the challenges created by the pandemic have come to stay and will form the building blocks of global politics and diplomacy in the post pandemic era. Renewed inter-state relations and collaborations will provide a pathway to global prosperity post-COVID-19.

Keywords

• Covid-19
• Diplomacy
• International Cooperation
• Nationalism
• Pandemic

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