The world is in turmoil. The corona-pandemic continues to take lives and disrupt daily lives across the globe. This happens against a backdrop of a declining US and western-based world order and a resurgence of authoritarian rulers. In this essay, I discuss the inability of the international community to respond to the pandemic, especially as it relates to helping countries in armed conflict. At the end of March, the UN Secretary-General issued an urgent plea for a worldwide ceasefire to help communities cope with the pandemic. The plea was not met with adequate international support. I moreover show that regimes across the globe have used the pandemic to restrict political and civil liberties. In sum, we risk emerging from the pandemic as a less democratic world.
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Dr Håvard Mokleiv Nygård (PhD, University of Oslo, 2014) is Research Director at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Nygård’s main research interests are related to understanding the causes, consequences and dynamics of armed conflict, contentious action, peacebuilding, and social order. His research has been published in inter alia the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, World Politics, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and World Development. Nygård regularly consults for various international organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the Community of Democracies, the EU External Action Services, and the Human Security Report.