Was the Covid-19 crisis the boost the world needed to come back together?

Covid-19 was a very significant incident in bringing global cooperation back on the table at a time of enormous national egocentrism. The crisis confronted industrialized countries with an existential threat - something that countries in the so-called “Global South” were experiencing all along. So, on the one hand it was a rare equalizing moment in international relations. On the other hand it also reinforced existing asymmetries: rich countries were able to quickly shut out the global dimensions of the problem through their policy options and helped themselves to vaccines, leaving the rest once more at the mercy of their charity.

With our guest expert, Prof. Siphamandla Zondi, we discuss his evaluation of global governance from the perspective of countries in the Global South and the BRICS group in particular. We learn about the added value of supranational organizations, such as the United Nations, as a platform to make all interests visible. And we look at how the current crisis cautions us not to turn our back’s on multilateralism but actively seek it out when the next global crisis hits.

Professor Zondi is currently professor at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Johannesburg and chair of the South African BRICS Think Tank Council. He is also a member of the Africa Decolonial Research Network committed to rethinking knowledge in Africa. He has published extensively on regional and global governance, South African foreign relations, colonialism, and public health policy. One of his current publications deals with COVID-19 and the Return of the State in Africa. Find him on Twitter @siZondi

In the Research Feature we talk to Karolina Kluczewska. She currently works on a research project that investigates how competing conceptions of world order are processed in the development aid sector in Tajikistan. By looking at a row of Western and non-Western aid donors’ interactions with this particular recipient country, she gathers evidence on how their different approaches to world order are perceived locally and how these competing stimuli shape Tajikistan’s relations with such a diverse set of outside actors overall.

Timestamps: 

00:00: Introduction

02:50: Interview with Siphamandla Zondi

39:07: Research Feature: Karolina Kluczewska

For feedback or questions we welcome your comments directed at @GCR_21 on Twitter under the hashtag #cooperadiopodcast or you can get in touch via e-mail: cooperadio@gcr21.uni-due.de.

Further reading & sources:

Siphamandla Zondi (2021): COVID-19, Resilience and South-South Cooperation

& (2019): BRICS and Africa in perspective

Kluczewska, Karolina (2019): Questioning local ownership: Insights from donor-funded NGOs in Tajikistan