Altering exigency of multilateralism in Coronavirus world

Countries across the world are currently fighting a war against a common enemy - the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. In this battle to save the citizens from a global health pandemic, international cooperation or multilateralism is certainly the best defence. An array of experts and analysts have identified the global health crisis as the most precarious threat to human life since World War 2. Therefore, they have argued that multilateralism and maintaining global commons are crucial to getting through this crisis. IMF's chief economist Gita Gopinath has also advocated the need for multilateral cooperation as vital to the health of the global economic recovery as the world faces the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

However, it has been witnessed that countries are individually implementing measures in response to the crisis, side-lining international cooperation. While the world governments were compelled to take draconian steps to contain the spread of the virus and mitigate the socio-economic implications of the pandemic, repercussions varied across countries. When on one side the United States is cutting funds to the World Health Organization (WHO) after being stuck in a blame-game with China, the European Union on the other side is finding it difficult to coordinate all member states to carry out cooperative actions. Under Trump's administration, the US has intensified exclusivism and self-isolation as the country grapples with surging infected cases every day. Amidst the intensified rivalry between two leading global powers, - Washington and Beijing - analysts are fearing a critical power vacuum in the world leadership role.

In the post-pandemic world, it will be significant to analyze the impact on multilateralism in the geopolitical discourse. Experts believe the global focus can potentially shift towards public health, especially in developing countries. As countries will look forward to progressing their domestic strategies, the role of the international bodies such as the United Nations organizations, which include the WHO and the Security Council, will depend on the dynamics of their actions during the COVID-19. One thing that the pandemic has raised attention to is the need for a more effective framework at the international level, not just towards the global public health, but all threats that put the world in jeopardy.

Amid all the circumstances, it is quite certain that a global pandemic like Coronavirus cannot be ended by unilateralism, such that an alliance of multiple countries becomes an inevitable choice. Global challenges such as pandemics, climate, terrorism will always require coordinated responses from all countries through the integration of political, economic, and technical dimensions.