Lukes Publishes Op-Ed on Trump’s COVID-19 Policies
Igor Lukes, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a new op-ed in Lidove Noviny on “Trump’s War on Coronavirus.”
Published on May 9, 2020, the op-ed reviews U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy response to the coronavirus crisis and argues that Trump has “always needed an enemy” that he can point the public towards. In this crisis he has made China that enemy. The op-ed highlights the need for competent and expert-driven policy and global cooperation at this time of a global pandemic, and bemoans the lack of it.
An excerpt from the article:
America has put itself in a medical coma and cannot come out of it. Freezing human activities is necessary for fight against a pandemic, but has a far-reaching impact on the lives of citizens. From previous disasters of a similar type, such as the Spanish flu (1918-1919) or the Great economic crisis (1929–1933), America rose to become a stronger country than it was previously. This was because people believed in the government. The belief that politicians work for the benefit of citizens is a prerequisite for a functioning state, and respect for the truth is a prerequisite survival of democracy…With the arrival of Donald Trump at the White House, a new situation arose because the president did not hide the fact that he would say and do whatever suited him.*
The full article can be found here.
Igor Lukes is university professor of international relations and history at the Pardee School, a past winner of the 1997 Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 2020 winner of the Gitner Prize for Faculty Excellence at the Pardee School. he writes primarily about Central Europe. His work has won the support of various other institutions, including Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, the Woodrow Wilson Center, IREX, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Read more about him here.
*Translation of this excerpt was provided by Google Translate. Exact English wording may not exactly match that of the professor’s original writing.