Covid -19 crisis through IRT

 Viewing covid-19 through International relations theories

The Covid-19 epidemic is a worldwide threat that requires a worldwide response. However, while states show some international collaboration, their actual behaviours are primarily competitive and self-centered.Covid-19 has proven to be one of this generation's most significant worldwide issues. A pandemic knows no national borders, and Covid-19 has put international cooperation to the test. With its interwoven supply chains, continual trans-border flows of products, services, and money, and seamless people-to-people contact, the globalised, interconnected globe is particularly prone to pandemics. The quick spread of Covid-19 from China, where it originally appeared, to the rest of the world is emblematic of our times in this era of hyper-globalization. Logic would argue that concerted international action is both necessary and doable because effectively combating the pandemic is in everyone's best interests.Given the conflicting objectives of its members, the WHO, as the only global public health organisation of any significance, has remained relatively ineffectual. Even the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been hampered by nationalist outbursts and unilateral responses. It was reasonable to expect the two most integrated regional organisations to play a larger role in regional coordination of a transboundary mutual problem.

REALIST LENS

The fundamental foundations of international politics, according to realists, never change. International relations are always simply a power struggle between self-interested governments. Various branches of realism depend on external independent variables since realism is not a unified theory. Classical realists like Hans Morgenthau believe that eternal conflict stems from human nature's inherent selfishness, which manifests itself in competitive state behaviour.

States are the major actors in an anarchic international system, and they use self-help techniques to survive and, depending on the branch of neorealism, to maximise power or security. The anarchic state of international politics may lead lesser powers to balance against or join forces with more powerful ones due to an inherently uneven allocation of power.

Even in the world's most integrated supranational organisation, the European Union (EU), member states routinely violate otherwise sacred principles of cooperation, and realists should not be surprised that lofty European ideals and norms gave way to national self-help once the Covid-19 crisis struck the continent. Following the epidemic, numerous existing EU legislation were immediately violated, including competition law, fiscal discipline, and freedom of migration. EU capitals swung into full nationalist mode as countries closed their borders.A handful of EU countries promptly blocked their borders and imposed export bans without consulting the EU. When Italy, one of the world's worst-affected countries, requested emergency medical supplies from neighbouring EU members, it was received with exactly what realism would predict: its neighbours violated the EU's single-market spirit by imposing export limits on pharmaceutical equipment.Realists also argue out that international structures limit states' ability to focus on higher long-term rewards for all. Instead, international anarchy forces states to treat international organisations and institutions in the same way they treat the international order as a zero-sum game. The World Health Organization (WHO) has become extremely politicised, as realism predicts. The WHO, for example, disregards Taiwan's experience with Covid-19 as well as related research and development outcomes due to the PRC's failure to acknowledge Taiwan as a diplomatically independent, sovereign nation state.Even in the face of a common global issue, governments hesitate to abandon their natural instinct for self-help and zero-sum games due to the systemic trust deficit inherent in an international system characterised by anarchy.

LIBERAL PERSPECTIVE 

Liberals argue that when states' fates are intertwined, they must collaborate or suffer a terrible price. For example, the global economy is a complicated web of trade, finance, and manufacturing that values collaboration. In this light, states must work together to combat pandemics that spread quickly around the globe and impose huge costs on all communities. To combat a scourge that affects everyone, they must pool their knowledge and material resources. For example, in US-led efforts to ensure the reliable availability of technology to combat pandemics, they absolutely do so.However the cooperation hasn’t been much appreciable and consistent.In a globalised world, the development of epidemics has undoubtedly resulted in unprecedented cooperation within scientific groups, such as virologists. Since the occurrence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002, scientists from several nations have collaborated to handle the possibility of a virus outbreak.At least among developed economies, democracy is regarded to be a unifying feature. In terms of the relationship between democracy and war, this is generally true. However, in this case, the proof is insufficient. Developed democratic democracies in Europe and North America have fought over the sharing of anti-pandemic supplies including protective equipment and ventilation systems on several occasions.

CONSTRUCTIVIST LENS

The constructivist approach is a set of theories that highlights the importance of systems of thought, identities, and roles in international politics, arguing that, at its core, how actors act and react in global relations is shaped by a consensus about reality and responding appropriately to it.Responses to the Covid-19 problem, from this perspective, are shaped by firmly held beliefs about the priorities that states should follow in such a situation.Despite the urgency of the Covid-19 issue, nations fail to collaborate because they are weighted down by the assumed belief that, even in the face of a pandemic, self-help must come first, and power must determine action. For the constructivist, this worldview is an ideational construct that must be overcome in order to create cooperation.

CONCLUSION:

In my opinion, In IRT, alternative paradigms have a considerably weaker grasp on the current problem than the theory of realism. In the absence of effective international authority, the state and individual national interests continue to dominate collective interests. This is evident in global responses to the pandemic. Because of the systemic trust deficit in international affairs, realism predicts that states will resort to self-help and zero-sum calculations rather than cooperative mass action in times of crisis.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Basrur, Rajesh, and Frederick Kliem. “Covid-19 and International Cooperation: IR Paradigms at Odds.” SN social sciences. Springer International Publishing, 2021. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7649056/.

2. and francis, taylor. “Online Instruction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Creating a 21st Century Community of Learners through Social Constructivism.” Taylor & Francis, 2019. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00098655.2021.2014774.