May 03, 2020
The World Order Is Dead. Here’s How to Build a New One for a Post-Coronavirus Era.
International orders seldom change in noticeable ways. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, the Pax Romana was not a passing phase: it persisted for centuries. The order that arose from the 1815 Congress of Vienna didn’t fully unravel until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
But at rare moments, confidence in the old order collapses and humanity is left with a vacuum. It is during these times that new orders are born—that new norms, treaties and institutions arise to define how countries interact with each other and how individuals interact with the world.
As the most far-reaching global disruption since World War II, the coronavirus pandemic is such a moment. The post-1945 world order has ceased to function. Under a healthy order, we would expect at least good faith attempts at international coordination to confront a virus that knows no borders. Yet the United Nations has gone missing, the World Health Organization has become a political football and borders have closed not only between countries but even within the European Union. Habits of cooperation that took decades to entrench are dissolving.
Read the full article in POLITICO Magazine.
More from CNAS
-
How Biden Could Use Trump’s Trade War Thumbscrews to Fight Climate Change
Commentary
Global climate change is undeniably a crisis, arguably the single greatest national security challenge the United States faces, and certainly a vastly greater threat than many...
By Peter Harrell
-
A Council of Democracies Can Save Multilateralism
Commentary
The world desperately needs a new institution that is both global in reach and unified in vision....
By Edward Fishman & Siddharth Mohandas
-
Sharper: Global Coronavirus Response
Commentary
Analysis from CNAS experts on the most critical challenges in U.S. foreign policy....
By Chris Estep & Cole Stevens
-
How U.S. Sanctions Depend on the Federal Reserve
Commentary
Foreign policy professionals will have to understand what the Federal Reserve is doing and how it affects U.S. national security....
By Edoardo Saravalle
