Paramjit Singh

Department of Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the COVID-19 outbreak is a “nodal point” that will lead to certain irreversible changes in the world economic and political order in the near future. These changes, however, will not only be an outcome of the current health pandemic, but also of the economic and political pandemics that have grown worse over a period of time. This paper identifies two far-reaching consequences of the accumulating pandemics that have the potential to lead the world towards a qualitatively better future. The first is the possible death of neoliberal capitalism that will lead to higher state intervention. The second is the end of the unipolar imperialist world order and subsequent emergence of a bipolar world with a rising China as a probable occupant of the non-imperialist pole. Both these outcomes are subject to the people’s resistance for a better future, and China’s alacrity in undermining the hegemony of imperialist-led globalization.

KEYWORDS

COVID-19; neoliberal capitalism; China; unipolar world order; new world order

From: International Critical Thought 2020 10 (4)

Editor: Wang Yi