COVID-19 must eliminate traditional state security ideas
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The world continues to fight COVID-19. Its impact has varied from country to country, but the overall human and socio-economic cost has been high for every country.
Are states getting ready to cope with the long term fallout of COVID-19? There are three major issue areas that the states would have to address at the individual and collective levels. These areas are the shift from military security to comprehensive security and greater attention to human welfare and development in every society; international cooperation for rescuing states that have suffered most from COVID-19 and the dynamics of regional and local conflicts.
The traditional concept of security highlights military and border security with an emphasis on military weapons and equipment, modern hardware, aircrafts and warships. The coronavirus experience suggests that military hardware does not provide any security against a natural calamity like COVID-19. Even nuclear weapons and missile systems are irrelevant to securing people against such a calamity.
Therefore, we talk of comprehensive security that suggests that in addition to military security a country must pay attention to societal security and human development. Developing countries must pay greater attention to strengthening hospital and health facilities, education, employment opportunities, environmental improvement, and cultivation of civic sense among citizens. The internal collapse of the state and society due to human and socio-economic cost of an epidemic or natural calamity is no less threatening than a military attack by another country.
Another cause of weakening the capacity of states to cope with post-COVID challenges is the persistence of regional and local conflicts. Though local and regional conflicts in South Asia, the Gulf region and the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region have slowed down after the outbreak of COVID-19, this is a temporary ‘time-out’ on the part of contending parties. There is no evidence available to suggest that the states of these regions have decided to seek enduring peace in view of current and future threats of COVID-19.
Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi
International cooperation is needed not only to evolve a medical response to such an epidemic but also for providing financial and technical support to developing and poor countries for seriously pursuing societal security and human development.
International financial institutions are adopting measures to help developing and poor countries. Individual countries like the US have also provided financial support to some countries. Such international cooperation may not be available in the required quantum if the major states of the world continue to engage in power politics of undermining each other’s interests. Their mutual rivalries can undermine global efforts to cope with the after-affects of COVID-19. Currently, the global landscape is being marred by growing confrontation between the US and China. This confrontation has increased after the outbreak of COVID-19.
One offshoot of the conflict is that the US has decided to withhold its financial support to the World Health Organization because it has declined so far to endorse the American claim that China caused this virus. This confrontation created problems for many developing countries that seek financial and technological support from both countries. Pakistan is one such country that seeks financial support from both major powers. It often faces American criticism for the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor that provides a land route to sea to China’s Xinjiang region.
Another cause of weakening the capacity of states to cope with post-COVID challenges is the persistence of regional and local conflicts. Though local and regional conflicts in South Asia, the Gulf region and the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region have slowed down after the outbreak of COVID-19, this is a temporary ‘time-out’ on the part of contending parties. There is no evidence available to suggest that the states of these regions have decided to seek enduring peace in view of current and future threats of COVID-19.
There are minimal chances of active cooperation among the states of South Asia. The India-Pakistan conflicts persist, and both engage in limited military confrontation on the Line of Control in Kashmir and resort to negative propaganda against each other at the regional and global levels. India has picked up a quarrel with Nepal on a territorial issue. There is a cooling off in India-Bangladesh relations after India passed the new citizenship law and threatened to expel a large number of Bengali speaking people from Assam to Bangladesh. The revival of the border issue in Ladakh between India and China undermines the political and security environment of the region.
Similarly, there are problems in the relations between Qatar and its neighbors. Other problems that need to be addressed include civil strife and foreign intervention in Syria, Yemen and Libya. In the South China Sea and Asia-Pacific region, China and some of the states of the region backed by the US, pursue conflicting visions of peace and stability.
The best strategy for coping with the negative impacts of COVID-19 is that neighboring states help one another, and regional cooperation is promoted for pooling together the resources of the states of a region. If COVID-19 poses an unusual challenge, the response should be innovative and bold. It requires a radical change in the mindset of the policymakers.
*Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi is a Pakistan-based political analyst. Twitter: @har132har
