An embarrassment of changes: International Relations and the COVID-19 pandemic

Davies, Mathew; Hobson, Christopher Edward

doi:10.1080/10357718.2022.2095614

Cited by 20 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The term ‘polycrisis’ captures this intuition. It is being used by a growing number of commentators (Summers & Ahmed, 2022; Wolf, 2022), international agencies (UNDP, 2022; UNICEF, 2023; WEF, 2023), policymakers (Juncker, 2018), and scholars (Davies & Hobson, 2022; Tooze, 2021). Yet the term remains underspecified – a buzzword with little substantive content.…”

Section: Introduction: From Perfect Storms To Polycrisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global polycrisis: the causal mechanisms of crisis entanglement

Lawrence,

Homer-Dixon,

Janzwood

et al. 2024

Glob. Sustain.

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Multiple global crisesincluding the pandemic, climate change, and Russia's war on Ukraine have recently linked together in ways that are significant in scope, devastating in effect, but poorly understood. A growing number of scholars and policymakers characterize the situation as a 'polycrisis'. Yet this neologism remains poorly defined. We provide the concept with a substantive definition, highlight its value-added in comparison to related concepts, and develop a theoretical framework to explain the causal mechanisms currently entangling many of the world's crises. In this framework, a global crisis arises when one or more fastmoving trigger events combine with slow-moving stresses to push a global system out of its established equilibrium and into a volatile and harmful state of disequilibrium. We then identify three causal pathwayscommon stresses, domino effects, and inter-systemic feedbacksthat can connect multiple global systems to produce synchronized crises. Drawing on current examples, we show that the polycrisis concept is a valuable tool for understanding ongoing crises, generating actionable insights, and opening avenues for future research. Non-technical summary. The term 'polycrisis' appears with growing frequently to capture the interconnections between global crises, but the word lacks substantive content. In this article, we convert it from an empty buzzword into a conceptual framework and research program that enables us to better understand the causal linkages between contemporary crises. We draw upon the intersection of climate change, the covid-19 pandemic, and Russia's war in Ukraine to illustrate these causal interconnections and explore key features of the world's present polycrisis. Technical summary. Multiple global crisesincluding the pandemic, climate change, and Russia's war on Ukrainehave recently linked together in ways that are significant in scope, devastating in effect, but poorly understood. A growing number of scholars and policymakers characterize the situation as a 'polycrisis'. Yet this neologism remains poorly defined. We provide the concept with a substantive definition, highlight its value-added in comparison to related concepts, and develop a theoretical framework to explain the causal mechanisms currently entangling many of the world's crises. In this framework, a global crisis arises when one or more fast-moving trigger events combines with slow-moving stresses to push a global system out of its established equilibrium and into a volatile and harmful state of disequilibrium. We then identify three causal pathwayscommon stresses, domino effects, and inter-systemic feedbacksthat can connect multiple global systems to produce synchronized crises. Drawing on current examples, we show that the polycrisis concept is a valuable tool for understanding ongoing crises, generating actionable insights, and opening avenues for future research. Social media summary. No longer a mere buzzword, the 'polycrisis' concept highlights causal interactions among crises to help navigate a tumu...

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Section: Introduction: From Perfect Storms To Polycrisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global polycrisis: the causal mechanisms of crisis entanglement

Lawrence,

Homer-Dixon,

Janzwood

et al. 2024

Glob. Sustain.

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“…Ahora bien, la pandemia del coronavirus, provocada por el SARS-CoV2 ha tenido un impacto significativo en la PE de muchos países, incluyendo la toma de decisiones en cuanto a cuestiones como la cooperación internacional, la seguridad sanitaria y la economía mundial, reconfigurando la geopolítica de la pandemia y de las vacunas, por eso es hoy un factor por considerar, sobre el cual se ha escrito mucho (Davies & Hobson, 2022;Bas-Vilizzio & Nieves-Aguirre, 2022;Huang 2022;Klobucista, 2021). Y aunque oficialmente ya fue considerada superada de acuerdo con la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), lo cierto es que su origen y la búsqueda del paciente cero continúa provocando tensiones entre China y otros países, temas que no se abordan en este artículo por cuestiones espacio, pero que son necesarios de analizar desde la perspectiva de la PE.…”

Section: Cambios En El Sistema Internacionalunclassified

Análisis de política exterior en un contexto cambiante: Una aproximación

Murillo-Zamora

2023

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La política exterior constituye un campo de estudio particular, atrae la atención de numerosas personas académicas y centros de investigación, pues se ubica en el espacio interméstico (se formula en el ámbito interno o doméstico y se implementa en el externo o internacional) y resulta de los aportes disciplinarios de relaciones internacionales, ciencias políticas y administración pública; de esa forma constituye una disciplina puente de la primera disciplina científica. Además, su definición y caracterización es compleja, porque depende de cómo se auto percibe el Estado que la formula e implementa; pero también porque se relaciona con el tipo de actor estatal de que se trata. No es lo mismo una super o gran potencia que un Estado pequeño; y no se puede olvidar que más de tres cuartas partes de los países que conforman el sistema internacional son agentes pequeños. Por eso, desde mediados del siglo XX, el interés de analistas internacionales se ha enfocado en este campo. De igual forma, el análisis de la política exterior, como espacio de investigación, ha mostrado una importante evolución, y ha requerido nuevos enfoques y metodologías. Por otra parte, los cambios en el sistema internacional, en particular el fin de la Guerra Fría y los atentados del denominado 9-11, introdujeron variantes en el abordaje de esta cuestión; sin embargo, fue con la pandemia del SARS-CoV2 y de la guerra en Ucrania que la realidad se ha tornado más compleja y demanda nuevas perspectivas para el análisis de la política exterior, en particular de grandes potencias y Estados pequeños. Teniendo en cuenta esas particularidades, en este artículo se hace una revisión de los principales textos sobre la política exterior, a partir de mediados de la pasada centuria y hasta lo publicado este año. La intención es ofrecer una especie de estado del arte, para quienes les interese incursionar en el análisis de la política exterior, e identificar las principales ideas y enfoques para un posterior trabajo de investigación.

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“… 8 The polycrisis nature of the pandemic has created tensions in international relations and health security. 9 Historically, health issues largely remained outside the purview of most traditional IR scholarly works as it was treated with lesser strategic significance. However, the importance of discussing health security in the IR field was recognized during the post-Cold War period with the emergence of new security threats, particularly the prospects of pandemics related to emerging/re-remerging diseases and the increased perils of bioterrorism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scoping review of international relations theories in health security: A cue for health diplomacy

Pattanshetty,

Inamdar,

Dsouza

et al. 2024

F1000Res

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Background Health security as a domain has gained tremendous importance in the recent past. Emerging and re-emerging diseases globally, coupled with the derailment of the determinants of health mainly the socio-political environment, has made health security a cross-cutting entity in diverse fields including International Relations (IR). With the ongoing global polycrisis, the health-related issues which were previously sidelined as a concept of less strategic importance in the IR field, are now contributing to the shift of the world order. This has instilled an increased participation of IR scholars in the discussions and debates on health security concerns. The field of IR contains numerous theoretical lenses through which scholars analyze such situations, policies, and systems of the world. Methods In this paper, we use a scoping review method to inspect how IR theories have been applied in analyzing health security concerns. Results We observed that various diverging IR theories have been used to deliberate on states’ actions in tackling the recent pandemic and have also been prescriptive about the changing notions of multilateralism and international governing organizations. Realism, liberalism, and securitization were among the most frequently applied IR theories in the context of health security discussions. Conclusions This work provides an impetus to enhance the interaction among interdisciplinary teams leading to evolving solutions that can address issues of global importance in the contemporary world.

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An embarrassment of changes: International Relations and the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 20 publications

References 42 publications

Global polycrisis: the causal mechanisms of crisis entanglement

Global polycrisis: the causal mechanisms of crisis entanglement

Análisis de política exterior en un contexto cambiante: Una aproximación

Scoping review of international relations theories in health security: A cue for health diplomacy

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