Najam Writes OpEd on World After COVID-19
Prof. Adil Najam, Dean of the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was invited to participate in a strategic dialogue on what a post-COVID-19 world might look like and what it might mean for Pakistan. Organized by the policy journal Pakistan Politico, the contributions from 10 leading foreign policy experts from Pakistan was published online on April 13, 2020 (Read here).
In addition to Dean Najam, the dialogue included contributions from Senator Rehman (former Ambassador of Pakistan to USA), Amb. Salman Bashir (former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan), Dr. Maleeha Lodhi (former Pakistan Ambassador to USA, UK and the United Nations), Amb. Najamuddin Shaikh (former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan), Awais Raoof (Editor-in-Chief Pakistan Politico), Prof. Salma Malik (Quaid-i-Azam University), Nasim Zehra (journalist and TV anchorperson), Khalid Banuri (former DG Arms Control and Disarmament), and Amb. Zamir Akram (former Ambassador of Pakistan to the United Nations).
Najam’s arguments were informed by the #WorldAfterCorona video series of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, an affiliate center of the Pardee School of Global Studies, that he has been moderating. He highlight key impacts on US-China great power relations, on global institutions and governance, on the global economy, and on the possible continued rise of authoritarianism and nationalism.
Excerpts from his contribution:
Let us first recognize that we are now – already – in a new world created by the coronavirus. There is not a post-covid world waiting to happen; it has happened.
Of course, the details of what that world might eventually look like is still being determined – by the pathologies of this virus, but also by the how societies, nations and leaders are and will be dealing with the pandemic. But it is clear that there was a ‘Before Covid’ (BC) world, and there is an ‘After Covid’ (AC) world; and we are already living in times AC.
… expect not just uncertainty and flux – expect confusion and conflict. That is by no means inevitable; but it is certainly possible, possibly likely.
Read full piece here.
Adil Najam is the Inaugural Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and was the former Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Read more about him here.