The coronavirus pandemic put an end to the world order established after World War II and US leadership in the international arena, says Le Monde. According to the publication, the global health crisis has demonstrated the importance of the role that China plays in international structures, and has dealt a serious blow to the unity of Europe. In order to further influence the establishment of a new world order, the EU should revise its own structure, the authors of the article are sure.
Are we witnessing a radical change in the political environment due to the global health crisis? Are current events talking about accelerating pre-existing trends or a paradigm shift? Will the world after the pandemic get worse and worse than before? These questions are asked by Le Monde in an editorial, noting that they are just as legitimate as questions about the future of society and the economy after the crisis, although trying to answer them is like getting a finger in the sky, because neither the duration, nor the scale of the crisis, nor the way it overcomes are still not known.
Nevertheless, some lessons can be learned from the shocks that the world order has survived due to the Covid-19 pandemic today, the authors of the article are sure.
Firstly, according to journalists, the world order, built after the Second World War under the auspices of the United States, in the 21st century no longer meets the real balance of power in the world. According to the publication, this world order began to collapse even before the coronavirus crisis – some are even inclined to count its decline from 1989, when the communist bloc collapsed. The end of the Cold War, the disappearance of the USSR and the development of China gradually deprived the world order based on the US-Soviet confrontation. The “bipolar order was followed by a multipolar disorder,” to which the multilateral way of governing the world was increasingly adapted.
The newspaper emphasizes that the rise of China played a key role in destabilizing the previously existing system. The delay with which the World Health Organization warned the international community of the dangers of a pandemic was evidence of its dependence on Beijing. Amid recriminations over the origin of the virus, rivalry between China and the United States has intensified. As the publication notes, it often seems that these powers spend more energy on confronting each other than on combating the health crisis in their own countries.
The second lesson is that the United States today no longer plays the role of world leader, as in the 20th century, the authors of the article are sure. If in recent years Washington has been increasingly evading this mission, the current crisis, which has weakened the country, has forced Americans to finally leave it. Donald Trump had to persuade to participate via video link in international meetings, at which he was to chair. As the newspaper notes, even having taken place, these meetings did not bring any result, and the UN Security Council was, in fact, paralyzed.
European unity also could not withstand the attack of the coronavirus, according to Le Monde. Unarmed by the pandemic, which he was unable to predict, the EU was unable to support the countries most affected by the epidemic. “The egoism of states and the return of borders have threatened two pillars of the European Union: the Schengen zone and a single market,” the newspaper writes. Europe, abandoned by the United States, being the object of China’s claims and in tense relations with Russia, still believes in a multilateral approach, the newspaper notes. However, if she wants to influence the creation of a more reliable and fair world order after the crisis, she should start by revising her own economy, solidarity and determination, the authors of the article say.