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Covid-19

December 29, 2020

If developing countries struggle to procure a Covid vaccine, some will take matters into their own hands

Gerelyn Terzo The Covid vaccine debate is rapidly changing, from whether we will get a vaccine to when, where and how it will be rolled out. But, writes Gerelyn Terzo, this immediately raises questions about whether socio-economic development will determine who gets it first Read more

December 21, 2020

Academic activists want to break out of their ivory towers, but in doing so risk creating a new form of elitism

Francesco Saverio Montesano An increasing number of scholars want to campaign for positive change outside the academic echo chamber, but overlook their own evidence when they refuse to engage with any view not exclusively based on science. Francesco S. Montesano argues that this will only deepen the gap between ‘experts’ and the rest of society Read more

December 16, 2020

Sweden stands out for its soft approach to the pandemic – but the jury is still out on whether it will work

Oscar Larsson Unlike most other countries, Sweden adopted a ‘soft’ approach to managing the Coronavirus pandemic, flying in the face of ‘securitisation theory’. Oscar Larsson considers whether its approach will succeed Read more

December 9, 2020

Russia cannot save the world with its Sputnik-V vaccine. So why is it pretending it can?

Domenico Valenza The scientific credibility of Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccine has been seriously challenged. So why is Russia risking mass vaccination? Domenico Valenza argues that an international, biopolitical power-play presents Russia as the actor that can bring order to a disordered world Read more

December 2, 2020

Is friendship the most important solution to the Covid-19 pandemic?

Ruairidh Brown The pandemic has revealed the importance of civic solidarity and public trust, writes Ruairidh Brown. But they function best in a context of ‘friendship', a concept which needs to be recognised as central to political thinking in a post-Covid world Read more

December 1, 2020

Once regarded as ‘remittance warriors’ and saviours of Bangladesh, overseas migrants are now lambasted as coronavirus super-spreaders who have left a nation in crisis

Ranjan Saha Partha In Bangladesh, attitudes towards overseas migration have changed from ‘hero to zero’ during the spread of Covid-19. Ranjan Saha Partha and Nurul Huda Sakib explain why Read more

November 20, 2020

Putinomics and Covid-19 is slowly killing Russia’s economy

Albrecht Rothacher The impact of Covid-19 has laid bare the structural weaknesses of the Russian economy, dependent as it is upon nefarious practices and long-term assumptions about perennial growth in the world market for oil and gas, writes Albrecht Rothacher. And in the face of rising Chinese competition, future prospects are bleak Read more

November 16, 2020

Headline data suggests low-income states are coping better with the pandemic than high-income states. But is this true?

Rachel M. Gisselquist States with fragile state health systems have been commended for effective responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. But if we take into account factors such as favourable climate and the age structure of the population, the Covid-19 impact is, in fact, greater on states with weak institutions, explain Rachel M. Gisselquist and Andrea Vaccaro Read more

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