COVID-19: more rules, less international order

COVID-19: more rules, less international order: COVID-19’s negative impact on geopolitics is becoming clear. There has been no peace dividend. The old conflicts and disputes are still there and some have been exacerbated. The pandemic did not prove a moment for multilateralism; instead, it exposed the shortcomings and divisions within multilateral organisations. Far from ushering in an age of humanitarian cooperation, it has created an atmosphere of blame and recrimination.

But there is an additional consequence of the pandemic: the proliferation of rules. Rather than enhance, as it should have done, a collegiate, equity-based approach to rules both within jurisdictions and the international community, COVID-19 has spawned a culture of unilateral, nationalist rules. Whilst there are rules in abundance, they are not supportive of the international order.