COVID-19 and the Global Political Economy
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COVID-19 and the Global Political Economy
Introduction
The rise of the Coronavirus pandemic has promulgated the increase in human, economic, and social crisis for the entire world. It has greatly influenced how the political, economic, and other sections of governments worldwide relate. Coronavirus’s rapid spread across nations with a scale and severity of its influence can nearly be compared to the Spanish flu in 1918. A definitive action plan(s) is required to mitigate the current crisis to enable the global economy and societies worldwide to recover, recapitulate the future’s economies and cultures. The development of resiliency helps people, institutions, places, and organizations address the inequalities that have arisen due to the pandemic’s effect on the global political economy. It has created vulnerability to some communities and groups of people, e.g., the murder and discrimination of black lives in America have increased since the pandemic’s rapture.
Even in its earliest stages, the pandemic portrayed an enormous impact on economies, international politics, public policies, and world trade. COVID-19 declared serious consequences upon targeted groups and vulnerable communities such as black people and anti-racist systems in institutions such as the World Bank. Since political economy articulates around influencing the political decisions on the economic and social developmental aspects of people, places, and groups of the population, the adversity of poor decision making increased during this period. Fundamental issues, such as reducing racism, were hardly controlled as inequality spread extensively around the world.
This paper presents information regarding the impact and relationship COVID-19 has had on Black people and anti-racist systems worldwide and the global political economy. The concept of neo-liberalization and colonialism are covered to help explain the influence COVID-19 has had on the political economy. Moreover, it gives insights into the patterns and processes related to black people’s historical, social relationships, and anti-racism movements.
Black and anti racism’s relationship to Coronavirus and political economy
Political economy is a field that studies the relationship between economic theories or perspectives and the real world. It attempts to understand the historical, cultural, and custom impacts of the world’s financial systems, i.e., how changes occur and how they influence growth and generation of informed political decisions (Block, 2018). Political economy acknowledges the significance of knowing how specific past processes, structures, and institutions operate towards shaping the world’s societies in the future. Aspects such as policy formulation to help a given group of populations overcome specific discriminatory treatments and promote a profitable outcome for any economy are characterized as political economy.
The Coronavirus has played a crucial role in embracing nationalism and globalization and showing the limitations of neoliberal globalization, which has reigned over societies and communities since early 1980 (Zeleza, 2020). Political leaders have hit rock bottom as government incompetencies have been exploited over this challenging period. Daunting deficiencies of some systems have been exploited in various countries worldwide, threatening cataclysmic wreckages upon industries, global supply chains, and even stock exchange markets with unpredictable trajectories.
However, the central tensions that have captured global interests are addressing black and anti-racism systems in governments and institutions. Regardless of differences existing between Africans and African Americans due to trivial things in the world, the ability of these differences weakens the quest for confronting and defeating racism has failed. Many multinational organizations such as the World Bank have postulated movements that urge an anti-racist approach, but the structures to ensure the institutions themselves adhere to these policies are weak. For instance, according to the Black Civil Society Organization (2020), the author states that “the World Bank and its President, David Malpass, must not insult the global movement to end anti-black racism which was sparked by the killing of George Floyd in the United Sates.” This shows that there lacks concrete action plans stipulated to foster the #EndRacism approach. Multinational institutions like the World Bank have banners hanging around their headquarters, representing the need to address racial injustices. Claims of the World Bank president shows how the diffusive demand of addressing racism in institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are irrelevant (Black Civil Society Organization, 2020).
However, African Americans are well-developed for reading, analyzing, and deconstructing white supremacy despite these problems existing. Racism has been a coexisting factor for over 100 years in the world and institutions, prompting the civil rights movement. Blacks have been considered to be minorities for centuries, enduring various traumas and police brutalities. For instance, the killing of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, and Breonna Taylor is a perfect example of victims facing racism under the COVID-19. Black communities are under siege from various angles since the rise of the pandemic. This has fostered their social, political, and economic lives, thus the #BlackLivesMatter movement globally (Osha, 2020). While institutional constitutions are guided to end racism, e.g., in the World Bank, acknowledging systemic racism is significant as it has bedeviled the organization for years. These ideologies are explained through the various concepts, but only colonialism and neo-liberalization perspectives are utilized to help understand these issues.
Legacies of colonialism and racism
Various international institutions have long postulated a racist stratification approach between developing and developed countries that existed since the colonial periods. This has been the gatekeeper to determining how global economic systems are because developed nations continue to thrive over the minor states, i.e., African countries and people (Osha, 2020). The World Bank is one of the firms that has played a significant role in shaping the global and political economy, especially during policy-making. For the World Bank to end the anti-black racism scourge, it must focus on completing the ruthless dominative and exploitive actions. These include systemic racial subjugation, colonization, enslavement, etc. these aspects have promoted the global economy that favors developed nations to socially, economically, and environmentally detriment developing nations, mainly black countries (Osha, 2020). Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the distribution of resources to countries was unequal as African countries were considered later after the virus had spread almost half of the globe. Moreover, vaccines’ development to cure the virus followed that Africans or African Americans were to be used as models for testing the vaccine’s eligibility to function in curing Coronavirus. Unequal distribution of resources globally during the pandemic shows white dominance over black people and countries.
Black debt bondage is another issue that has been in motion since the colonial period. The systemic anti-black racism at international organizations and sister institutions like the IMF has held African and Caribbean countries, hostage through debts. According to Osha (2020), “most long-term recipients of World Bank money are no better off than they were when they received their first loan. Many are actually worse off.” Many African countries have been facing significant debts since colonization, and the same has been exploited over the pandemic period. For instance, the infection rates of the COVID-19 pandemic have had little impact on African countries and people. However, most of the World Bank’s donations have been steered towards African nations in the name of COVID-19 emergency loans. African governments have borrowed or instead taken emergency loans worth 7.5 billion US dollars from the IMF (Osha, 2020). Thus, these two international institutions are perpetuating racial discrimination globally and institutionally.
Generally, colonialism is still reverberating. The global trading system is proof that colonial dominance is still functional in the world. Colonized economies have been at a greater risk of being locked into low-technology goods and raw materials, which is advanced colonialism, which is viewed as power relations by most countries. African countries and people have been subjects to this approach, are targets for colonial projects, and under-presented in international organizations or institutions developed after WWII. Thus, this has been hyped during the Coronavirus pandemic as debts keep on being posted to African countries, and people in European nations are increasingly victims of racial discrimination.
Neo-liberalization
Neo-liberalization is the resurging of views related to economic liberalization and the concept of free-market capitalism. It has been a factor facilitating the vulnerability of many nations’ public policies in both developed and developing countries. It has also forced the change of international agencies such as the World Bank, IMF, and other organizations. Neo-liberalism has been a driving factor in defining globalization as it has de/re-regulated supply chains throughout the world. Globalization has currently promoted the pandemic’s production, and fast-spreading has threatened socio-economic systems created by it. The introduction of neoliberalism was to embrace free and open markets.
News regarding the economy having become alarming since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered deep and sharp economic depreciation in capitalist history. For instance, the extended supply chains considered rational means of organizing production, subsided, trade reduced critically, and traveling was significantly constrained. People became unemployed, and businesses lost employees, clients, and suppliers. For instance, an economy like the United States that is a full capitalist market, i.e., flexible and having a greater variety of jobs for employees, faced an economic downfall (Saad-Filho, 2020). Likewise, African countries faced a decrease in economic activities such as the tourism and aviation industries and export and imports. The international systems had higher sanctions on several sectors in economic activities and made some political decisions for other nations.
Therefore, the political implications of the COVID-19 pandemic have proceeded in revealing themselves over the past few months and could perhaps progress to years in developing countries. This is because a rapid decline of neoliberal proclamations of fiscal austerity and public policy development and implementation ideology led to institutions and countries being bankrupt (Saad-Filho, 2020). During this pandemic, a realization was affirmed by the failures of governments’ poor planning, choices, and the economy’s decision-making. This showed the deliberate breakage of state capacities, the failure to implement, and underestimating threats. Thus, the influence that COVID-19 has on the political economy has affected the neoliberal perspective and could promote this aspect’s diminishing aspect in the future.
Historical relations of black and anti-racism systems to social aspects
Throughout history, hallmarks of democracy, i.e., freedom, prosperity, and opportunity creation, have been preserved for white people by intentionally excluding and oppressing black people. Racial and ethnic inequalities exist globally and are direct outputs of structural and system racism, i.e., the past and current regulations, standards, and taboos that develop and retain white supremacy within institutions. Black communities are disproportionately segregated to access opportunities, making it hard for them to secure social amenities such as jobs, houses, healthcare services, education, and being treated equally within various systems such as criminal justice systems (Urban Institute, 2020). Hence, the world’s social networks regarding black people of Africans do not favor their ability to control social amenities or relations peacefully. Black oppression has extended to structures and systems within societies. The ideologues of creating an anti-black or racist system are overwhelmed because whites dominate most international systems due to the historical legacies. Such perceptions are existing due to the de facto of neoliberalism and colonialism. The systems have not incorporated blacks or people of color during the formulation and enactment of policies. The intention is to maintain political differences and social classes to control these populations of populations.
Gaps in the colonial and neo-liberalization concepts
Neoliberalism is a concept related to individualism as countries focus on themselves other than other nations. The perspective of free markets and economic freedom of trade occurs in a particular country and cannot be articulated throughout the world simultaneously (Ndii, 2019). The aspect of neoliberalism corresponds to negative freedom whereby an individual is supposed to mind their business as long as it does not interfere with others. The freedoms of superpower countries can also conflict, leading to more discrimination as the black culture is motivated.
Colonialism, on the other hand, retarded and distorted the tempo and pace of societal and cultural development in African countries and culture. There have been political colonies that have resorted to unbridgeable social gaps between countries that are beneficiaries and subjects to oppression. This has led to a stunted growth for African communities declining traditional cultures and colonies’ pursuits to develop (Farah, Kiamba & Mazongo, 2011). Lastly, African cities and countries still act as raw materials and labor sources to Western countries in the capitalist system.
References
Black Civil Organizations. (2020). This Anti-Black Racism Must End. Retrieved from September 5, 2020, https://www.theelephant.info/op-eds/2020/09/05/this-anti-black-racism-must-end/
Block, D. (2018). Political economy and sociolinguistics: Neoliberalism, inequality, and social class. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Brownhill, L. (2020). The Emancipatory Politics of Anti-Racism.
Farah, I., Kiamba, S., & Mazongo, K. (2011). Major challenges facing Africa in the 21st century: A few provocative remarks At the International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in Africa-Strategies to confront the challenges of the 21st Century: Does Africa have what is required. Berlin, 14th–17th July.
Osha, S. (2020). Fractures and Tensions in the Anti-Racism Movement. Retrieved from September 25, 2020, https://www.theelephant.info/op-eds/2020/09/25/fractures-and-tensions-in-the-anti-racism-movement/
Saad-Filho, A. (2020). From COVID-19 to the End of Neoliberalism. Critical Sociology.
Urban Institute. (2020). Structural Racism in America. Retrieved from https://www.urban.org/features/structural-racism-america
Zeleza T. P. (2020). The Coronavirus: The Political Economy of a Pathogen. Retrieved from March 25, 2020, https://www.theelephant.info/long-reads/2020/03/25/the-coronavirus-the-political-economy-of-a-pathogen/