Covid-19 is one of the most important and influential events and processes in the world in the twenty-first century. Indeed, the pandemic has been able to cross borders and prove itself to be an extraterritorial challenge since its emergence. Covid-19 has been examined from various perspectives. Some consider it as a real test for nation-states that has exposed the weaknesses and strengths of world powers. Others consider it a sign of transition into the new world order by multipolar players. However, the pandemic, which has dominated over the states for a notable period of time, has challenged many equations in the international arena and is raising a number of questions, many of which remain unanswered.
Covid-19 has had a significant impact on various aspects of human life, specifically on international politics. In this case, different views have been put forward on the coronavirus and world politics. These views include a range of issues such as the re-empowerment of nation-states, decline of multilateralism, the decline of integration, the rise of nationalism, the rise of economic and political challenges in the South, the escalation of arms races, and the weakening of the EU. Our authors deal with some of these dimensions in their chapters of the book and examine them by their special worldviews.
The goal of this book is to set the stage for exchanging intellectual views on diverse perspectives on the covid-19 crisis and international politics. This goal has been achieved to a large extent by bringing together researchers, professors, and writers of international politics from different geographical areas and with different fields of research. In fact, the lack of literature with the characteristics of this research motivated us to collect and publish Understanding International Politics Covid-19.
Understanding International Politics Covid-19 is an international project which 24 prominent international researchers and professors have participated in it to bring together their different views and opinions in a joint comprehensive work. In fact, every thinker has raised the issue from the angle of his glasses. The work attempts to present a variety of perspectives and therefore the reader could deal with opposing views in some certain cases. We value all the perspectives and we believe that the collection of all these views will help us to have a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the dimensions of this emerging and transnational pandemic. However, all chapters are original and will be published for the first time, and only one article by Prof. Joseph Nye has been republished at his suggestion.
One of the unique features of this work is the reflection of countries' views on this crisis and their internal and international actions in dealing with the pandemic. That is why authors from different countries such as Iran, China, USA, U.K, Netherlands, Turkey, Austria, Russia, Lebanon, Indonesia, and Italy have been selected to contribute to this international project. Therefore, by reading this book, the readers will be able to assess how countries are coping with this crisis from the point of view of International Relations researchers belonging to these regions.
Finally, we hope that the readers could gain a more comprehensive understanding of international politics during the coronavirus era. This can pave the way for a better understanding of the pandemic challenge from different perspectives and in the international context. We hope this research leads to more research on the impacts of the coronavirus on international politics.
Content
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgement
Introduction
Global Conflict and Peace in the Corona and Post-Corona Era; Health is indivisible
Heinz Gärtner
No, the Coronavirus Will Not Change the Global Order
Joseph S. Nye Jr.
COVID-19 Pandemic: A Desperate Attempt to Shore up US Hegemony?
Kevin Barrett
The Future World and Possible Alternatives
Rooholamin Saeidi
COVID-19 and Reload of the World Order: Russian Point of View
Leonid Savin
China’s Foreign Policy in the Post COVID-19 Era
Wang Mingjin
Globalization and the Corona Crisis
Erik Ringmar
Covid-19 and International Relations Concepts: Nationalism and Identity
Glen M.E. Duerr
Covid-19, Ideology and Religion
Alhagi Manta Drammeh
Covid-19, International Media and Social Media
Xiguang Li
Coronavirus and the New International Security Puzzle
Asghar Eftekhari
The COVID-19 Pandemic, Price War and International Crude Oil Market Landscape
Yongzhong Wang
Russia after COVID-19: Challenges and Possible Paths toward a Future
Petra Rethmann
In following the United States, an Implosion of Europe Is at Stake?
Stefano Vernole
Europe: To Remain or Not to Remain
Mohamad Kleit
Islamic Republic of Iran and Covid - 19: External challenges and internal capacities in the global epidemic
Mahdi Javdani Moghaddam & Amir Mohammad Esmaeeli
Covid-19 and Development Challenges in the Third World
Eric Lob
Covid-19 and Development Process in Southeast Asia together with The Major New Paradigm of the 4th Industrial Revolution
Rodney Shakespeare
COVID-19 and Its Implications for Africa
Ian Taylor
From Fighting Against COVID-19 Cooperation between China and Middle East Countries to the Construction of a New International Order
ZHANG Yuan
Coronavirus and Politics in Persian Gulf
Jonathan Cristol
Saudi Arabia and the Twin Shocks: Impact on Politico-Religious Relations
Paul Aarts
Iran-US relationships under the influence of Covid-19’s spread
Dr. Abozar Goharimoqadam
Covid-19 and Iran-China Relations with the US and Russian Factors
Li Li
Heinz Gärtner
Prof. Dr. Heinz Gärtner is lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna and at Danube University. He was academic director of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs. He has held various Fulbright Fellowships and the Austrian Chair at Stanford University. He was Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC. Among other things, he chairs the advisory board of the commission Strategy and Security of the Austrian Armed Forces and of the International Institute for Peace in Vienna. He is an expert for EU and Euratom programmes at the European Commission and for Fulbright-Austria. He published widely on issues of international security.
Joseph S. Nye Jr.
Professor Joseph S. Nye Jr., Emeritus and former Dean of the Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He received his bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Princeton University, won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University, and earned a PhD in political science from Harvard. He has served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and Deputy Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology. His most recent books include The Power to Lead; The Future of Power; Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era; and Is the American Century Over. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the British Academy, and the American Academy of Diplomacy. In a recent survey of international relations scholars, he was ranked as the most influential scholar on American foreign policy, and in 2011, Foreign Policy named him one of the top 100 Global Thinkers.
Kevin Barrett
Kevin Barrett, an American Muslim and PhD Islamic Studies scholar is one of America's best-known critics of the War on Terror. He has authored and edited several books, appeared on Fox, CNN, PBS and other broadcast outlets, and inspired feature stories in the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune, and other mainstream publications. A former teacher of Islamic Studies, Arabic, French, and Humanities at various colleges and universities, he currently works as Editor at Veterans Today, columnist at American Free Press, Crescent International, and Unz Review, talk radio host, nonprofit organizer, and pundit on international TV channels.
Rooholamin Saeidi
Dr. Rooholamin Saeidi is an assistant professor and faculty member of Political Science & Islamic Studies at Imam Sadiq University. His areas of expertise include theories of International Relations and International Political Theology (IPT). He has authored several books and 15 scientific articles which have been published in Iran.
Leonid Savin
Leonid Savin is Director of the Foundation for monitoring and forecasting of development of the cultural territorial spaces; Editor-in-Chief of the Geopoliticа.ru think tank and member of military-scientific society of the Russian Ministry of Defense. He is author of numerous books on geopolitics, international relations, conflicts and political philosophy issued in Russian, English, Spanish, Farsi, Serbian and Italian languages.
Wang Mingjin
Professor Wang Mingjin is director of the academic committee and deputy dean of the School of International Studies and Diplomacy, Beijing Foreign Studies University, and editor of International Forum, a Chinese journal on international studies. He is also researcher fellow of European Studies Center of Renmin University of China, standing member of board of the China International Relations Journal Research Association. He graduated from the School of International Relations, Renmin University of China with a doctorate in law, and had been a visiting scholar at Kent University, UK. His research interests include European party politics, EU foreign policy and Sino-Europe relations.
Erik Ringmar
Erik Ringmar is a professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul Turkey. He has a PhD from Yale University and has previously worked in England and in China. From 1995 to 2007, he worked as a senior lecturer in political science at the London School of Economics (LSE), and from 2007 to 2010 as a professor at National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Hsinchu , Taiwan . Between 2011 and 2013, Ringmar Zhiyuan Chair was Professor of International Politics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. Ringmar has also been a visiting professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok in Thailand 2001–2002 and at Dalarna University2002, Malmö and Sundsvall. He is a Fulbright Fellow and Faculty Fellow at the Institute of Cultural Sociology at Yale University.
Glen Duerr
Glen Duerr is Associate Professor of International Studies at Cedarville University, where he teaches classes on research, comparative politics, and international relations. Born and raised in the United Kingdom, he lived in Canada for a decade where he obtained B.A. and M.A. degrees, before moving to the United States to earn his Ph.D. He is the author of Secessionism and the European Union (2015), editor of Secessionism and Terrorism (2018), and author of the forthcoming book, Patriotism and the Cross (2021). Outside of academia, he volunteers as a policy fellow for a research organization, and serves as a local elected official.
Alhagi M Drammeh
Dr. Drammeh is an Associate Professor and Programme Coordinator of Islamic Studies programme at the Al-Maktoum College. He is trained in both Islamic classical scholarship and human/social sciences. His academic career within higher education started in 1996 at the international Islamic University Malaysia where he taught till 1999. He also taught at the Institute of Human Sciences Wales and then moved to work at the Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education Scotland. He also worked at the Muslim College London. He has supervised several MA and PhD students. Recognising his expertise, he has been appointed to examine several PhD candidates at various British Universities. He is awarded Fellowships of Higher Education Academy and Royal Society of Arts. His research relates to Islamic thought, Qur’anic methodologies and political science/international relations. He appeared on several media outlets including al-Ghad Al-Arabi and Islam Channel in London to talk about combating extremism and promoting moderation and dialogue between Muslims and the West. Alhagi is also a researcher at the University of South Wales in politics and international relations. He writes extensively on politics, religion and society in the African context. His publications include: ‘Methodological Approaches and Implications in Dealing with Qur’an’ Al-Bayan, Brill, volume 12/Issue1/2014, ‘Islam and Human Dignity: Insights into Muslim Ethico-Philosophical Thinking’ Cheikh Mbacke, Gueye (ed.) Ethical Personalism, Ontos Verlag (in Frankfurt am Main) pp. 69-81 and The Fallacy of the Inevitability of Clash of Civilisations: A Common ground for Mutual Understanding and Co-Existence. Published by IIUM Press, International Islamic University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2009 ((ISBN 978983-3855-73-5)
Xiguang Li
A long-time journalist, Li Xiguang is Tsinghua University Councilor, and Executive Dean of Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication. He is President of Tsinghua International Center for Communications Studies, also Director of Tsinghua-Pakistan Culture and Communication Center which was launched by former Pakistan’s President Musharraf in 2008. He is currently Vice-chairman of Journalism Education Committee, Ministry of Education. As a leading Chinese academic in press and politics, Professor Li has been pushing forward the reforms of Chinese press system as well as the journalism education system. Serving as a think tank leader, Professor Li strives for an open press system through press reform in China. Since 2001, Professor Li has been leading a national program which trains government spokespersons and leaders of government press office above provincial and ministerial level. Professor Li was a Alfred Friendly Press Fellow with Washington Post in 1995, a research fellow with Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy of Harvard University in 1999. He worked as a science writer, editor, senior editor and director of the political desk of Xinhua News Agency for 11 years before he joined Tsinghua University.
Asghar Eftekhari
Asghar Eftekhari (born 26 August 1968) has received his doctorate from Imam Sadiq University (I.R.IRAN at 2003). He is professor of Political Sociology at this university and also “editor in chief” of Iranian POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE JOURNAL. His research interests are: Islamic studies based on Holy Quran & security studies. So far more than 40 books and 90 articles have been published by him. Eftekhari sketched the "Islamic Theory of Societal Security", which was selected as the best Iranian theory at the Farabi International Festival in 2013.
Yongzhong WANG
WANG Yongzhong, PhD in Economics, Director and Senior Fellow at Department of World Energy (International Commodity), Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS), and Professor and PhD Supervisor at CASS University. His research interests cover international investment, and energy economics. He had conducted visiting study in Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER) and Boston University. He has written two books, Practice and Performance of China’s Monetary Sterilizations, and Theories, Issues and Policies for China’s Sovereign Wealth Investment, and published around several dozens of academic papers in some Chinese leading journals such as The Journal of World Economy, China & World Economy, and Chinese Review of Financial Studies. He has hosted around ten projects and participated in dozens of projects supported by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Ministries, the National Social Sciences Foundation, municipal governments, policy banks, and central enterprises in China.
Petra Rethmann
Petra Rethmann (PhD, McGill University, 1996) is a Professor of Anthropology at McMaster University, and the Director of the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition. Her research interests include history, politics, and memory, as well as experimental forms of narrative and writing. She pursues these research interests in relation to the post-Soviet context, most significantly the contemporary Russian Federation, as well as Germany. She has published a number of books and articles in journals such as American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, and Anthropologie et Sociétés. She has held visiting professorships at the University of Chicago, University of St. Petersburg, University of Helsinki, and the University of Cape Town. She has also received numerous research fellowships; grants, and awards.
Stefano Vernole
Stefano Vernole is a freelance journalist and essayist. Deputy director of "Eurasia" Review of geopolitical studies and coordinator of the Mediterranean Eurasia Study Center. He is the author of some books dedicated to the former Yugoslavia, the Orthodox Christian world and the People's Republic of China. He has participated as a speaker at some international conferences in Serbia, Russia, Greece, Spain, China and Iran, followed as a correspondent some geopolitical crises in Transnistria, Kosovo, Montenegro, Northern Ireland, Brazil, Tibet and Syria.
Mohamad Kleit
Mohamad Kleit, Lebanese journalist, born on the 13th of October 1990 in Beirut, studied communication arts (emphasis Journalism) at the Lebanese International University. Started working in journalism in 2013 with several local Lebanese and international newspapers and progressed to become editor at Unews Agency and freelancing with other international media outlets, to cover several events in the fields of politics, international affairs, security, society, and human rights, in Lebanon and abroad. He's a member of the international NGO Journalist Support Committee since 2018 and has attained a diploma in Diplomacy and Arbitration from the International Arbitration Organization in Egypt.
Mahdi Javdani Moqaddam
Dr. Mahdi Javdani Moqaddam is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Imam Sadeq University. He specializes in the Middle East Studies, Iranian foreign policy, Arab – Israel conflict. He is author of numerous books and papers, among which are: Rethinking on the Backgrounds and Roots of Iran phobia Discourse in International Relations, Islamic Political Thought, 2019; The Riddle of Order and Chaos in the Middle East, 2018; A Study of the Context and Dimensions of New Saudi Arabian Foreign Policy in the Middle East, 2018; New Geopolitics of Shiism in the Middle East and Foreign Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, International Quarterly of geopolitics, 2014.
Amir Mohammad Esmaeili
Amir Mohammad Esmaeili is a PhD candidate in China studies at Shanghai International Studies University. He finished his master in Political Science and Islamic Studies at Imam Sadiq University, Tehran. His research interests include International Relations, West Asian Studies, Foreign Policy of Iran, and Media and Politics. Amir has released a number of academic works in these areas, including recent book entitled “E’temade Nafarjam”. As a lecturer, Amir has also taken part to various Iranian and international conferences, symposiums and workshops. Besides his studies, Amir has experiences different professional atmospheres which have related to his research interests, including being a researcher and project manager in Iranian Official Broadcasting, a reporter and columnist in some popular Iranian News organizations and newspaper, a researcher in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chief Editor in Journal of the Scientific Society of the Islamic Thoughts and Political Science. His languages skills in English, Arabic, Persian and French have enabled him to explore among different cross-cultural communities and their resources.
Eric Lob
Eric Lob is an associate professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University. His research focuses on the politics of development in the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of the book Iran’s Reconstruction Jihad: Rural Development and Regime Consolidation after 1979 (Cambridge University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, Iranian Studies, Middle East Critique, The Middle East Journal, and Third World Quarterly, among other publications. He received the 2014 Foundation for Iranian Studies annual award for best dissertation and honorable mention for the biannual Association for Iranian Studies Mashayekhi Dissertation Award. In 2013-14, he earned a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University and was a postdoctoral research fellow at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies. He is a Board of Trustees member of the American Institute of Iranian Studies (AIIrS) and a member of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA).
Rodney Shakespeare
Rodney Shakespeare was Visiting Professor of Binary Economics at Trisakti University, Jakarta, where he taught on the International Postgraduate Islamic Economics and Finance program. His next book will be A New Paradigm Response revealing a new way of understanding economic reality and so the possibility of major new policy solutions.
Ian Taylor
Ian Taylor is Professor in International Relations at the University of St. Andrews’ School of International Relations, a Joint Professor in the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China and Professor Extraordinary in Political Science at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Yuan ZHANG
Dr. Yuan ZHANG is Professor of International Politics, and Director of the Religion in the Middle East Research Program at Middle East Studies Institute (MESI), Shanghai International Studies University (SISU). She previously was Associate Professor of Politics Science at East China University of Politics Science and Law. She earned her Ph.D. and her M.A. in International Politics from Fudan University. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Religion and China’s National Security at Fudan University. She was an Academic Visitor at The Hong Kong Chinese University (2011), University of Oregon (2012), Brigham Young University (2013) and Cornell University (2013-2014). She is author of Religious Functional Units and Regional Violent Conflicts (Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2014) and Religion and the Role of Law in the Anti-Terrorism Era (Law Press-China, 2012). Her new book Comparative Study of Religious Conflicts in the Era of Globalization will be published in 2020. Her recent research interests are Politics and Diplomacy of Middle East Countries, Religion and International Security, Religious Radicalism etc.
Jonathan Cristol
Dr. Jonathan Cristol is a research fellow in the Levermore Global Scholars Program at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY (US), where he teaches courses on American Foreign Policy and the Politics of the Middle East. Prior to coming to Adelphi, he was a fellow at the World Policy Institute and the director of the Globalization and International Affairs Program at Bard College (US). He is the author of the 2019 book The United States and the Taliban before and after 9/11 (Palgrave) in addition to numerous academic and non-academic articles. He is a graduate of Bard College (BA), Yale University (MA), and the University of Bristol, UK (Ph.D.).
Paul Aarts
Paul Aarts has been a senior lecturer in International Relations at the Department of Political Science (University of Amsterdam) for more than thirty years. He mainly works in the field of Middle East politics, the Persian Gulf region in particular. He developed the 'Zeytun Academic Exchange' program with academic institutes in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Morocco. Among his recent publications: Saudi Arabia. A Kingdom in Peril (Hurst 2016, co-authored by Carolien Roelants), also translated into Arabic, Persian and Dutch.
Abuzar Gohari Moqaddam
Dr. Abuzar Gohari Moqaddam is an Associate Professor and PhD supervisor at the faculty of Political Science and Islamic Studies, Imam Sadiq University. His research interests include International Relations, foreign policy of Iran and American studies. He has released various works in Iranian and international publications, including “Introduction to the Islamic Revolution of Iran” and “Foreign Policy of the United States after 9/11”. He has also served as senior researcher in Iranian academic institutions since 2006.
Li Li
Dr. Li Li is an associate professor at College of International Studies and Center for Iranian Studies, Southwest University. He holds a Bachelor's degree in English, a Master's degree in Applied English Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Japanese Cultureal History and teaches couses of English, Japanese, and World History. He has been a visiting scholar to Kokugakuin University in Japan and Western Kentucky University in US as a Fulbright scholar. Mr. Li has published a dozen of research papers in American studies, international politics, Japanese culture and history, and Iranian studies etc. on various academic jounrals and led a few research projects in the aforementioned areas.