With the outbreak of Covid-19 many powers got exposed to world, till date these so called super and giant power countries used to maintain hegemony all over the globe through socially, politically, economically, ideologically and technologically ,countries like USA and other European countries fell short of quality drugs to contain the Covid -19 effectively , country like USA which is also known as first world and developed country fell lack and shortage of masks , ventilators , drugs and PPEs in order to protect the doctors from this fatal virus, many doctors, nurses and health workers died in many countries including USA while treating Covid-19 patients because they were not provided with enough equipments to deal with the outbreak of Covid-19.
By: Sarfaraz Amin
Introduction
With the outbreak of Covid-19 many powers got exposed to world, till date these so called super and giant power countries used to maintain hegemony all over the globe through socially, politically, economically, ideologically and technologically ,countries like USA and other European countries fell short of quality drugs to contain the Covid -19 effectively , country like USA which is also known as first world and developed country fell lack and shortage of masks , ventilators , drugs and PPEs in order to protect the doctors from this fatal virus, many doctors, nurses and health workers died in many countries including USA while treating Covid-19 patients because they were not provided with enough equipments to deal with the outbreak of Covid-19.
History will note down this story that during the outbreak of Covid-19 super power like USA and other nuclear powers were not having sufficient health care system to save the common masses but were having enough weapons of mass destruction to kill the people in any corner of the world and they were having such a military might that they can reach any point of the globe in seconds but unfortunately whole globe also got to know they were so poor in health care system that they couldn’t save its own people who were dying in broad day light so helplessly and this super power became a mute spectator before this invisible enemy.The Corona virus outbreak is the biggest health crisis in 100 years, as countries try to contain the virus but they are miserably failing.
When the pandemic went out of control in USA , the Trump administration called Modi , the PM of India for help in providing drugs like Hydroxychloroquine an anti malaria drug to deal with outbreak of Covid-19.Since the emergence of this pandemic all were having the eyes on so called super power like USA and other European countries that they were soon deal and contain this pandemic as these countries were believed to be developed and advanced in health care system, science and technology in dealing with the crisis but all in vain , it goes on spreading more and more and these countries were felt so impotent in front this pandemic.
Corornavirus (COVID-19)
Politically speaking corona virus is proving a great political tool for many to criticise the contemporary world order and also a tool to criticise capitalism, globalization, regional and international organizations because these institutions right now failed in dealing with the outbreak of this Covid-19 pandemic. This Covid-19 is going to fundamentally change the present world order as many thinkers and theories suggest so because of ongoing crisis and the vacuum created by this pandemic. The concepts like traditional and modern concept of security, failing of international institution, changing face of balance of power and the future story of globalization and this deadly virus without a cure is hovering like nightmare to world countries.
Historically, pandemics have been portals for dramatic change. Kyle Harper in an article in Foreign Policy quoted Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, who survived the 14th-century Great Plague, as saying that random pathogens can cause the rise and fall of empires and civilisations. Harper concluded that “those biological shocks often coincide with moments of transformation and change – and sometimes even progress”
Changing face of world order
What we call the international relations or global politics always saw the inevitable competitions and conflicts since centuries and even before the rise of nation-states, there were many great powers in the past such as Athens, Sparta and the Persian empire and many other smaller and lesser powers just like present time we have uni-polar system lead by USA and other many smaller and lesser powers like China ,India , Iran etc .The present world order looks it is going to be disappear like the previous and past one from the global scene as it looks to be crumbled and crushed before this pandemic and the only power which so for have emerged to larger extent victorious out of this pandemic is China.
The rampant spread of this pandemic throughout the globe has proved the inefficiency of right now contemporary world order and an individually exposed many countries which were so for seen as developed and with effective system of dealing with every kind of crisis and leading examples for other countries, the outbreak of this pandemic can be considered as testing tool of their efficiency but till date no country claimed to be the victorious while dealing with Covid-19.
The contemporary global order that was constructed after World War II to deal with political and military crisis lead by hegemonic power like USA also failed to provide any alternative and rationale choice to world countries. The USA failed as a leader in handling this crisis single headedly as it was used in the past to handle various issues though military and by using political approaches and through diplomacy but this Americans hard power even couldn’t overpower pandemic and even failed in soft and in structural power while dealing with this pandemic crisis and China snatched this opportunity from America by taking an advantage in demonstrating their power in handling the pandemic as now most of the world countries have eyes on China that they will soon help us also in dealing with this pandemic.
The sudden lockdown through the globe is haunting the economy of almost all the countries and has left whole globe in sudden shock, people working on daily basis and in private companies in many countries expressing anger while being locked down and the failure of such countries in dealing effectively and quickly with this pandemic has created a vacuum because no has witnessed such a plague that has forced whole world to run from working and to sit inside homes and whole world look deserted and this plague has raised many questions like what is the strategy to deal with this pandemic? How countries are going to deal with poor people during this pandemic and what about those working and earning in private companies if lock down couldn’t be lifted as soon as possible to restore the system and heal it quickly. There are many more other questions that need to be answered almost in every country. World leading giant economic countries are crashing, fear of hyperinflation, loss of currency value, dipping of oil prices and many other worst things are expected to happen soon throughout the globe.
World leading giant economic countries are crashing, fear of hyperinflation, loss of currency value, dipping of oil prices and many other worst things are expected to happen soon throughout the globe.
Therefore, we can say we are living in abnormal times .The present global order is in process of change as many are suggesting such theories, the order that has been constructed and structured after the creation of UNO in 1945 and post world war II designed by the USA and western alliance is not able to cope up with the present crisis and the vacuum created by pandemic throughout the globe , however it was only china till date that came individually to rescues many countries roughly about 48 countries the number can be more or less in their list whom they provided helping hand while dealing with pandemic .
The international, regional and intra-regional organizations like UNO, SAARC, EU, and G20 couldn’t help each other but many countries resort to the policy of “self-help” gave a big blow to globalization also.
The world is facing an implacable viral and invisible foe namely Covid-19 and it has effected whole globe and many sceptics have given voice to like , Is it a deliberate biological war waged by China to reshape the global order and even many question to Trump Administration , but so far no theory has been validated with evidence , there are many stories and hypothesis going on with regard to profile of Covid-19 but till date this enemy is on full mission to target the people throughout the globe and has compelled the world to go and to shut down the day to day business and outdoor activities. Not only is America’s economy crashing, not only have the world’s procedures come to a grinding halt but citizens are in great fear as it looks a biological war is going on that silently kills the people on roads and in hospitals .Educational institutions and religious institutions have been shut down in the name of social distancing to contain this virus but till date it shows no major victory of any country but cases are rising more and more in many countries on daily basis.
Changing face of narrative wars
The world has been through many wars , the first two eras saw organized violence using rudimentary armaments and the next two eras saw sophisticated weaponry that possess capability to hurt even common civilians and even non-combatants ,escalating to the nuclear era . After the two world wars that were fought during the period of 1914 -1918 and 1939 -1945 the two super powers namely first world lead by USSA and Second world lead by USSR lead to another strategic and ideological war known as cold war where the both powers couldn’t exceed their limits because of nuclear deterrence and this cold war lasted for a period of 46 years and end with the fall of USSR in 1991 that gave rise to uni-polar system dominated by USA.
After the two world wars that were fought during the period of 1914 -1918 and 1939 -1945 the two super powers namely first world lead by USSA and Second world lead by USSR lead to another strategic and ideological war known as cold war where the both powers couldn’t exceed their limits because of nuclear deterrence and this cold war lasted for a period of 46 years and end with the fall of USSR in 1991 that gave rise to uni-polar system dominated by USA.
However with the passage of time many other countries emerge with nuclear power and with flourishing economy like India who used the same nuclear energy for constructive use and for country’s welfare not for to gain hegemony over other countries, though with this nuclear deterrence the countries couldn’t face each other due to the formulas like MADA( Mutual Assured Destruction ) and SAD (Similar Assured Destruction) that can create a nuclear winter.
And now days the current ear of warfare has changed altogether keeping in view of this nuclear deterrence. There are four main categories of biological agents that can be used as weapons. The first comprises viruses, which are micro-organisms that multiply inside the host’s body. This includes smallpox, plague, Ebola, and cholera, which are spread through coughing, sneezing, and contact with body fluids. The second category comprises bacteria that cause illness by reproducing themselves or by producing toxins inside human tissues. Bacterial toxins include anthrax, botulinum and typhoid. The third category comprises rickettsia, which are bacteria that, like viruses, can only live inside host cells. They are carried by rodents, and insects such as lice, ticks, and f leas. Rickettsia can cause Q-fever, psittacosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The fourth category is biological toxins. These are non-living, and as a result are not contagious. This category includes ricin, which is produced from castor beans. In general terms, viruses are more difficult to culture and develop into weapons than bacteria or toxins. Past incidents of BW terrorism indicate that the BW that terrorists are most likely to produce are ricin, plague, tulameria, botulinum, and anthrax, although Aum Shinrikyo also acquired Q-fever. The FBI lists plutonium, botulinum toxin, and ricin, as the three most toxic substances in the world. However, both botulinum toxin and ricin are notoriously difficult to weaponize, and botulinum also deteriorates quickly in the environment. Therefore, despite their toxicity, they are difficult to use as WMD.Howerver till date only accusations have been labelled against USA and China that Covid-19 is used a biological weapon by these two countries that has not been validated and proved through any evidences but in future there are apprehensions that such things can happen.
Globalisation and Nationalization
Globalisation is facing a corona virus test including global powers and this pandemic is going to reshape the global politics and the concepts of low politics and high politics .Mostly the countries used to give more focus on high politics of survival and security and less emphasis on low politics that is economy and human welfare inside the state but this pandemic has pushed back the countries to focus more on low politics because most international and regional organizations failed to help the countries in dealing with this pandemic.
During this pandemic hardly any country was serious to help each other, mostly the countries relied more on self- help as it was looking the world is going to end and all resort the maxim of “survival of fittest “by suggesting lockdown at national level, social distancing, as most countries were not having enough equipment’s to deal with this pandemic that forced them to go for lockdown from spreading and going it more viral. The institutions like SAARC, EU and UNO couldn’t do anything and neither these institutions help the member countries of each other that put serious questions on their existence during this crisis. Most countries focused on inward policies than the outward policies in dealing with the pandemic.
Lockdown is placing pressure on the global economy. We face a serious recession. This pressure has led some world leaders to call for an easing of lockdown measures and some are expecting that if lockdown prolonged it will lead us the crisis like that of Great depression that happened in 1929 . As the economist James Meadway wrote, the correct Covid-19 response isn’t a wartime economy – with massive up scaling of production. Rather, we need an “anti-wartime” economy and a massive scaling back of production. And if we want to be more resilient to pandemics in the future (and to avoid the worst of climate change) we need a system capable of scaling back production in a way that doesn’t mean loss of livelihoods” .So in this pandemic most countries are in a race to resort such policies which can be a easy road for them to renew their economic strength and put their respective countries out of this pandemic crisis that is determined to crush their economic strength by pushing them to go for lock down as the process of integration of globalized world couldn’t come to rescues nor even the non – state actors .
The process of globalisation might be slow down aftermath of post- pandemic crisis because most counties health care system was in shambling order that were exposed to this pandemic. So it seems that many governments will take now back seat to go for Nationalization in order to improve their inward system more so that in future they can deal effectively with such crisis.
Conclusion
Now the final question which may be raised which country emerged quickly victorious from this crisis and which country will lead now, the China demonstrated their structural and institutional power is quite evident that it emerged quickly and to a larger extent victorious from this pandemic. However the trump administration has accused china as a main suspect of playing a role in creating this virus by calling it a “Chinese Virus” and their intentions to reshape the global order and to destabilise the world economy as many scholars, thinkers, researchers, writers ,economists and political analysts has predicted in past that China is going to replace the economy of USA and its position in 2020 that paved the way to doubt and suspect it a game of Chinese but trumps arguments were refuted by Chinese media and their government.
And more recently even Germany blamed China for creating this virus and the Germany government sent $165 bn bill to China as Covid-19 damages, that Beijing calls it ‘Xenophobia’
However one thing is sure that the global order is going to be reshaped by new powers, a multi-polar world is going to replace the uni- polar world which was lead by USA ,although the military strength of China has no match with regard to USA, but this physical military strength and hard power of USA couldn’t work and felt deep helplessness in front of this invisible enemy which locked down the whole globe and raised many questions who is going to lead the world and who will take us out of these crisis.
This pandemic also raised many questions on global ideology like capitalism, how far a country having such ideology is going to benefit its large number of population when the temporary business, daily wager poor and hungry people are going through this worst period of pandemic without earning any penny. And who can fill the vacuum that has been created by Covid-19 in present global order is a mysterious story in making to show cast on global screen in future post- pandemic phase of Covid-19.
Mr.Sarfaraz Amin is the political affairs Op-Ed columnist of Wilayat Times from Kashmir and he is currently pursuing research in Political Science in DBU –University, India
