THE globalization it was already being threatened by different groups such as climate activists, commercial warriors, populists and terrorists. After them, behold, the coronavirus.
THE spread of the new coronavirus, according to analysts and experts, could be a key point in debates on how the world can unite or segregate.
However, even before the virus appeared in the Europe, other environmental factors, such as climate change, and economic factors, such as discussions on the unfair trade have been fueling woes over global air travel and industrial supply chains globalized. Furthermore, its spread has fueled uncertainties about trust in China as a partner.
The reflections of the coronavirus on the economy
The virus ended up acting to curb economies and encouraged populists to revive the discourses – with overtones of racism and xenophobia – for even stricter controls on immigrants, tourists and even multinationals.
In the list of challenges of globalization, whether political or ideological, the coronavirus can differentiate itself.
“We always forget that we're at the mercy of nature, and when episodes pass, we forget and keep going. But this virus has brought up all these questions about the interconnectedness of the world we're building. Air travel, global supply chains – it's all connected,” says Ivan Vejvoda, a member of the Vienna Institute of Human Sciences.
As the virus expands, in different territories, “this makes China a little more fragile and our dependence on it as 'the factory in the world' more doubtful”, emphasizes Vejvoda.
THE accelerated spread of the viruscoming from china it is “another drop of water for globalization”, raises Robin Niblett, director of Chatham House, a research institution in London.
Political clashes between U.S and China around trade, as well as concerns about climate change, had already led to discussions about the meaning, in addition to discussions about the cost of shipping parts between countries and possible carbon taxes at borders, he warned he.
Allied to the risk of a supply chair vulnerable to the outbreak of another coronavirus outbreak or to an even more authoritarian China, Niblett warns: “If you are a company, you have to think twice about exposing yourself”.
Especially now, with more nations employing sanctions and economic interdependence “as a new form of coercive diplomacy, we are becoming more averse to the risk of globalization", he argued he.
The globalization of disease
However, the disease globalization it is not unprecedented, analyzed Guntram Wolff, director of Bruegel, an economic research institution in Brussels. As examples he used the deaths during the arrival of Europeans in the Americas and even the plague, which caused the cancellation of the Venice Carnival.
"What's different is that, with the plane, things can spread very quickly." The immediate actions are to step back and create barriers. “We are already seeing flight numbers dropping dramatically,” she exemplified.
At a certain point, the new coronavirus highlights the instability in globalization. The supply chains of the private sector started to have a high degree of efficiency. Air travel is numerous and endless. Given this, the private sector does not stop moving around the globe.
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However, any model of coordinated government response is often weak and disjointed – be it climate change, trade or health. And initiatives to fortify globalized public efforts are attacked by nationalists and populists as violations of sovereignty.
There's also not much governments can do to limit supply chains, let alone few of them on the European continent have the financial flexibility to invest extra money in the economy.
Theresa Fallon, director of the Study Center for Russia, Europe and Asia, agreed that most of the resistance could now turn to Chinese territory.
Upon returning from a trip to Milan, she reports that authorities measure the temperature of travelers, doctors They take great care of patients in their offices and residents stay away from tourists Chinese.
“China's growth is a long and positive story, but everything that goes up has to go down,” he said. she, since the repercussion of the virus is like “a kind of black swan that shows how different the country é”.
THE crisis around China's reliability it goes beyond the country's ability to deal with the coronavirus, said Simon Tilford, director of Forum New Economy, a research institution in Berlin. “Lack of trust will only reinforce an existing trend among companies to reduce their dependence and risk,” he said.
Impact on policy
The spread of the virus to Europe also influences politics, enthusing the anti-immigrant and anti-globalization extreme right, Tilford said. “We already see a lot of populist concern with the merits of globalization, benefiting multinationals, the elite and foreigners, not the population and local companies,” he explained.
In other words, governments that rely on the discourse of border control and immigration will be strengthened, even if the virus crosses borders in an easy way.
“His argument will be that the current system poses not only economic threats, but also health and safety threats, which are existential, and that we can't afford to open up so much just to please big companies," he proclaimed Tilford.
"This argument can attract voters who hate overt racism but who fear loss of control and a vulnerable system in a distant part of the world," he added.
The racial shock of the coronavirus spread is delicate, everyone agrees, but it exists.
“It's always different when it happens in your own neighborhood, between people like you. When this happens in Denmark, Spain or Italy, you get more of the feeling that it happens among people who share the same lifestyle – so you can see that happening to you,” said Stefano Stefanini, former diplomat Italian.
“But the virus also allows people to express a hostility to the Chinese that they may have felt but were reluctant to express. There is already an undercurrent of fear of the Chinese in Europe and the United States, because they represent a challenge to Western hegemony”, concluded Tilford.
*With Exam information.
See too:
- the viruses
- 6 Diseases caused by viruses
- New Coronavirus - What is it, causes, symptoms, treatment, diagnosis
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