Garcevic Writes OpEd in BalkanInsight on COVID-19
Ambassador Vesko Garcevic, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an Op-Ed in BalkanInsight entitled “Lesson No 1 From Pandemic – We’re all Interdependent.” The article was published on March 31, 2020.
The OpEd argues the need for more coherent and coordinated global cooperation as a way to address global challenges. It warns that instead of cooperation, we may see the rise of authoritarianism as a lasting consequence of the pandemic
Excerpts of the article:
This crisis confirms how interdependent – and defenceless – we are. It exposes the vulnerability of the state-centric global system. We’ve created our defences to protect ourselves from humans, but not from the challenges of the future, which are mostly the results of our wrongdoings.Our future collaboration, therefore, should go further from common narratives about what global threats are. It should include mutually supportive and coordinated policies, aimed at mitigating the consequences of any similar adversity.
…Democracy usually suffers in times of emergency . Instead of global cooperation, we may see the rise of authoritarianism as a lasting consequence of the pandemic. People are prone to praise the efficiency of strong leaders and autocrats who “know how to handle crises” and who mock democracies for making “things work slowly”.
The way states are handling the crisis and informing their populations varies, and speaks about their democratic capacities. Freedom of the media is one of the first victims in the global war against the pandemics. Some leaders, not only in the Balkans, see the crisis as an opportunity to expand executive power and rule by decree.
The full OpEd can be read here.
During his diplomatic career, Amb. Vesko Garcevic dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He had been a Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as a Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the faculty at the Pardee School.