1. Macron says the pandemic is an "existential event for humanity" which will "change the nature of globalization" He's surely right: the quick spread of covid-19 has been enabled by system of economic globalization (supply change, easy jet travel).
2. There's no return to the old normal. The only real option is to create a viable new normal that can address not just this pandemic but future shocks to international system, which means rethinking trade, supply chains, & fostering local manufacturing.
3. One obvious response to covid-19 is intensification of anti-globalist right & nationalism: strengthening borders, nationalist ideology to justify sacrifice, attacks on minority groups & international organizations (like WHO), blaming other countries.
4. The obvious failures of neoliberal globalization (where the profits of trade were privatized but the health costs of pandemics are socialized) shouldn't hide the fact that other forms of internationalism (sharing medical knowledge across borders) is more essential than ever.
5. Bernie Sanders ran on a platform of reforming economic globalism while rebuilding international co-operation. But he's not the nominee. Joe Biden is running on a more familiar 1990s liberalism of presenting globalization & internationalism as linked.
6. Globalization & internationalism will be central in election. Both Trump & Biden are already accusing each other of being weak on China. The open question is whether Biden can defeat Trump in a competition of nationalisms. More here: thenation.com/article/world/…
