Strategic and Geopolitical Lessons from COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has concentrated minds on the fact that contrary to everyday assumptions, humans are not the boss species on earth. A virus, invisible to the naked eye, can inflict severe damage on lives and livelihoods, bring economies to their knees, remove the veneers of civility within countries, and amplify grudges and hostilities among nations. Crucially, the stark inequities between the Global North and the Global South, combined with COVID nationalism around medical equipment and vaccines, sent a clear message to countries of the Global South: in moments of great peril, they cannot count on the rich countries of the Global North for timely solidarity. It is now clear that the International Health Regulations (IHR) rested on unfounded assumptions that norms and platitudes of solidarity would triumph over incentives and national self-interests. What stands between country populations and absolute disasters is the resilience of their institutions amidst stress. With health now more broadly understood as a matter of national security and a bed-rock of global security, the production and distribution of strategic medical equipment, drugs, and vaccines is too important to be left to the market alone. Governments should strategically and selectively invest in industrial production and supply chains. It is past time for the Global South to take responsibility for its own future and leave behind its dependency on the Global North.