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Global Challenges
Special Issue no. 1 | June 2020
Politics of the Coronavirus Pandemic
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Articles for this issue
Global Challenges
Special Issue no. 1 | June 2020
Politics of the Coronavirus Pandemic

A pandemic is not just a medical emergency – it is also a political, economic, and social crisis. It implies new challenges for democratic institutions and practices, for citizenship rights and human rights as some of the restrictions on civil liberties put in place by liberal and illiberal democracies may well outlive the coronavirus. This special issue explores some tensions and dilemmas of democracies faced with the current crisis. “Politics of the Coronavirus Pandemics” addresses questions like: Can we speak of a decline in politics during the pandemic? While states have been using the full gamut of their sovereign prerogatives, has the political (temporarily) faded in the face of, for example, “expertise”? What will be the lasting impact of the rule by administrative fiat, and of emergency powers put in place in many countries? What kinds of agenda and instruments of civic activism are likely to emerge given that courts are rarely in session and public protest not permitted due to distancing rules? What are the likely consequences of these reconfigurations for democracy, governance, and welfare systems in the global South and North?

Articles for this issue

Politics of the Coronavirus Pandemic
  • I
     

    Covid-19: A Modern Apocalypse or a Temporary Shock to the System?

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Dominic Eggel, Research Adviser
    Christine Lutringer, Executive Director of the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
    Marc Galvin, Executive Director of Research
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 1
     
    Stop coronavirus banner. Spartan shield, syringes and viruses. Vaccine development, combating the pandemic. COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) art. Protection of immune system. Medical background

    The Vaccine Race: Will Public Health Prevail over Geopolitics?

    Reading time: 6 min

    By Suerie Moon
    Co-director of the Global Health Centre
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 2
     

    Institutions under Stress: Covid-19, Anti-Internationalism and the Futures of Global Governance

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Nico Krisch
    Professor of International Law
    Co-director of the Global Governance Centre
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 3
     
    The Great Depression – Unemployed men queued outside a soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone.

    Covid-19 and Even More Unconventional Economic Policies

    Reading time: 6 min

    By Nathan Sussman
    Professor of International Economics
    Director of the Centre for Finance and Development
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 4
     

    Covid-19 and States of Emergency

    Reading time: 6 min

    By Neus Torbisco Casals
    Senior Research Fellow at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
    Senior Research Fellow in International Law
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 5
     

    Pandemic as Revelation: What Does It Tell Us about People on the Move?

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Antonio Donini
    Visiting Fellow at Tufts University
    Research Associate at the Global Migration Centre,
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva
    and Alessandro Monsutti
    Professor of Anthropology and Sociology
    Faculty Affiliate at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 6
     

    Pandemic and Political Geographies

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Michael Goebel
    Professor of International History
    Faculty Affiliate at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 7
     
    “The Plague in Rome” by Jules Elie Delaunay, 1869.

    The Western Flu: The Coronavirus Pandemic as a Eurocentric Crisis

    Reading time: 6 min

    By Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou
    Professor of International History
    Chair of the International History Departmentt
    Faculty Affiliate at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 8
     

    A Gendered Perspective on the Pandemic

    Reading time: 6 min

    By Elisabeth Prügl
    Professor of International Relations/Political Science
    Director of the Gender Centre
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 9
     

    A National-Liberal Virus

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Jean-François Bayart
    Professor of Anthropology and Sociology
    Yves Oltramare Chair for Religion and Politics in the Contemporary World
    Faculty Affiliate at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 10
     

    Depoliticising through Expertise: The Politics of Modelling in the Governance of Covid-19

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Annabelle Littoz-Monnet
    Professor of International Relations/Political Science
    Co-director of the Global Governance Centre
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 11
     
    Yayoi Kusama's “Infinity Mirror Room” in the Broad Museum, 8 August 2019, Los Angeles, California.

    The Politics of Covid Apps

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Anna Leander
    Professor of International Relations/Political Science
    Deputy Director of the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding
    Faculty Affiliate at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 12
     

    Human Rights and Covid-19

    Reading time: 6 min

    By Sara (Meg) Davis
    Special Advisor on Strategy and Partnerships at the Global Health Centre
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 13
     

    Emergency Use of Public Funds: Implications for Democratic Governance

    Reading time: 6 min

    By Deval Desai, Christine Lutringer and Shalini Randeria
    Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 14
     

    Unequal Impacts of Covid-19: Political and Social Consequences

    Reading time: 6 min

    By Graziella Moraes Silva, Assistant Professor in Anthropology and Sociology
    Faculty Affiliate, Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 15
     

    Covid, Hysteresis, and the Future of Work

    Reading time: 4 min

    By Richard Baldwin
    Professor of International Economics
    Co-director of the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

     

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  • 16
     

    Populism 4.0 and Decent Digiwork

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Maria Mexi
    Research Associate at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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Other Issues
Issue no. 2 | September 2017
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Democracy at Risk
Global Challenges
Issue no. 2 | September 2017
Democracy at Risk

While the 20th century has been characterised by the generalisation of democratisation processes, the 21st century seems to have started with the reverse trend. An authoritarian-populist nexus is threatening liberal democracy on a global scale, including in its American and European heartlands. Charismatic leaders – thriving on electoral majorities and popular referenda – methodically undermine the rule of law and constitutional safeguards in order to consolidate their own power basis. Coupling inflammatory rhetoric with modern communication technologies, they short-circuit traditional elites and refuse to abide by international norms. Agitating contemporary scourges such as insecurity, loss of identity, mass migration and corrupt elites, they put in place new laws and mechanisms to harness civil society and political opponents. In order to better understand the novelty, permanence and global reach of “illiberal democracy”, this second issue of Global Challenges proposes seven case studies (Russia, Hungary, Turkey, the Middle East, Uganda, Venezuela and the United States) complemented by a series of expert interviews, maps and infographics.