Global Issues|

Coronavirus

The Covid-19 pandemic is an enormous challenge to global public health. The response to the pandemic will also have long-lasting effects for globalisation, international trade, economic growth, and global poverty. Security perceptions will be redefined as nations reassess their defence priorities. The leadership contest between the US and China will also be affected by perceptions of government competence in dealing with the virus.

Below is a comprehensive compendium of research, media commentary and Interpreter articles from Lowy Institute experts and commentators from around the world dealing with Coronavirus.

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Can Covid-19 response be a model for climate action?

In 2020, the world will see the largest annual drop in carbon dioxide emissions in history. The havoc wreaked by the coronavirus and its accompanying lockdowns has seen fleets of planes grounded and factories shudder to a halt. Levels of mobility in the world’s largest cities have fallen below 10

By Noah Yim, Natasha Kassam

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COVIDcast Episode 10: Australia’s role in shaping a post-corona world

In this episode of COVIDcast, Hervé Lemahieu, Director of the Asian Power and Diplomacy Program, sits down with Senator Penny Wong, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, to discuss Australia’s role in shaping the post Covid-19 world. The discussion

By Hervé Lemahieu , Penny Wong

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Indonesia’s democracy is flawed, but do enough people care?

The Covid-19 outbreak has once again exposed Indonesia’s lack of preparedness to handle disasters and emergencies. After weeks of denying the severity of the pandemic, the Indonesian government’s response to the climbing numbers of confirmed cases has been confusing. A lack of coordination

By Fadhilah Fitri Primandari

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COVIDcast Episode 10: Sen. Penny Wong on Australia's role in the post COVID-19 world

In Episode 10, Hervé Lemahieu, Director of the Asian Power and Diplomacy Program, sits down with Senator Penny Wong, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, to discuss Australia’s role in shaping the post COVID-19 world

By Hervé Lemahieu , Penny Wong

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Samoa’s constitutional crisis: Undermining rule of law

While the global community struggles to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, Samoa is embroiled in a constitutional crisis. The South Pacific nation is frequently lauded for its good governance and regional leadership. The current crisis, however, has exposed fault lines around race and identity that

By Fiona Ey

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Wuhan lab claims: Is Australia questioning China? Or the US? Both?

A calculated leak? – Ben Scott Local newspapers have published remarkable claims detailing Australia’s reported concern about suggestions coming out of Washington that the outbreak of Covid-19 may have been the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan rather than coming from an

By Ben Scott, Sam Roggeveen, Natasha Kassam

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Economic diplomacy: Lifting the doona on a post-pandemic world

Health v growth The language of lockdown has certainly undergone a change, from Prime Minister Scott Morrison advocating six months of hibernation only a month ago to now warning the country cannot stay under the doona much longer. But it is no surprise the government's rhetoric has shifted to

By Greg Earl

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Creating a Pacific bubble

The success in containing the Covid-19 pandemic in both Australia and New Zealand has led to a novel idea – the opening up of trans-Tasman travel as long as each country is able to keep infections under control. It would be a ray of hope and normalcy, and an economic plus for both parties. While

By Joe Rafalowicz

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Beyond Covid, might China overreach?

A major disruption and the emergence of a global threat in the shape of a pandemic may have been expected to foster closer global cooperation. While this may momentarily be true, as countries cooperate to strengthen their healthcare infrastructure and in seeking effective cures and vaccines, there

By Biren Nanda

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Coronavirus: The end of sexist economics?

As coronavirus spreads, government spending, and lots of it, has been the order of the day. Most of the analysis has focused on the economic impact of these responses, with scant attention paid to the impact on gender. Yet the pandemic has exposed the gendered fault lines of the economy,

By Tara Davda, Priya Chattier

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Philippines: Bangsamoro, between conflict and Covid-19

In the midst of a delicate war-to-peace transition, still punctuated by military operations, attacks from militant groups and vendettas between feuding clans, the newly created autonomous region of Bangsamoro, in the southern Philippines, is now living in fear of Covid-19. While the extent of the

By Georgi Engelbrecht

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The prospects for China’s post–Covid-19 economy

While the Canberra political establishment has been sparring with China’s Foreign Ministry – and with Australian billionaires – much of the corporate elite has begun puzzling how to slipstream China’s post–Covid-19 economic recovery. Optimists hope that Beijing will summon a massive

By Rowan Callick

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Covid-19 and development banks in Asia

The Covid-19 pandemic means that more low- and middle-income economies are more reliant on multilateral development banks. Despite the media focus on “mask diplomacy” (or the lack of it) from individual countries, most notably China, development bank lending has been the largest external source

By Malcolm Cook

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COVID-19 and America's counter-terrorism response

Originally published in War on the Rocks

By Lydia Khalil

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Parallel plotlines: The evolving stories of climate change and corona

I am writing this from inside an apartment in Melbourne, Australia. A crisp, cool breeze ripples in through the window, as it has done in all autumns past and will do in autumns to come. In between, though, there is something new: a season of unravelling. We are all speaking an altered language

By Bronwyn Lo

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COVIDcast Episode 9: Covid‑19 and the oil price collapse

In this episode of COVIDcast, Roland Rajah, the Lowy Institute’s Director of the International Economy Program, sat down with Rachel Ziemba, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and Rodger Shanahan, Research Fellow, West Asia Program, to discuss the economic and

By Roland Rajah, Rachel Ziemba, Rodger Shanahan

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Japan: Cracks in Abe’s government amid the Covid-19 crisis

Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is facing tough political challenges while dealing with Covid-19, which he has called “the biggest crisis” since the Second World War. The Abe government’s response to the crisis has been slow and dissatisfying to many Japanese voters,

By Purnendra Jain, Takeshi Kobayashi

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COVIDcast Episode 9: COVID-19 and the oil price collapse

In COVIDcast Episode 9, Roland Rajah, Director, International Economy Program, sits down with Rachel Ziemba, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and Rodger Shanahan, Research Fellow, West Asia Program, to discuss the implications of the recent oil price collapse

By Roland Rajah, Rodger Shanahan, Rachel Ziemba

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Governments, not pandemics, stop access to reproductive health

Prescription limits on contraceptives, closures of specialist sexual and reproductive health clinics, halts on comprehensive sexual education, and tightened access to safe abortion. Each of these phenomena occurs in times of health crises and states of emergency, and each is happening in the world

By Sara E Davies, Sophie Harman

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Winds of change: Rethinking disaster relief after Cyclone Harold

Wind speeds over 215 kilometres per hour, more than 180,000 people affected, communities and their infrastructure hit hard, and countries in lockdown – Cyclone Harold is the most recent climate-fuelled calamity to wreak havoc in the Pacific islands. Combined with the Covid-19 pandemic, this

By Meg Keen, David Sanderson

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Helping Indonesia to help ourselves

Originally published in the Australian Financial Review

By Roland Rajah, Sam Roggeveen

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Foresight and pragmatism missing in Australia’s relations with China

There are many reasons the world needs an independent inquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus. After all, the pandemic has infected nearly three million people and taken around 200,000 lives worldwide, at latest count. And the world should push for one at the appropriate time. Properly and

By Alistair Nicholas

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In a testy post-Covid-19 world, Chinese sanctions of Australian goods may be closer than ever

Originally published in The Guardian

By Richard McGregor

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Information warfare in the theatre of Covid-19

Chaos is a ladder, said Littlefinger in Game of Thrones. Crisis is an opportunity, Sun Tzu didn’t say in The Art of War. Either way, in the United States, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and “infodemic”, political chaos is a clear and present danger, and an opportunity, in the covert and

By Damien Spry

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Back to the future: Keeping Australian air lines of communication open

One of the (many) astounding things that have come out of the Covid-19 crisis is just how fragile are Australia’s connections with the outside world. The government’s role in guaranteeing Australia’s communications, whether digitally or by sea or air, is one of the things that we will need to

By David Brewster

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How Is the Coronavirus Outbreak Affecting China’s Relations with Its Asian Neighbors?

Originally published in ChinaFile and Foreign Policy

By Natasha Kassam

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A mining boom to a dining boom and more economic consequences of Covid

While we were once mesmerised by how goods and services could fly around the global economy at the blink of an eye, we have now seen the downside of globalisation, where a virus emanating from a wild animal market in Wuhan an industrial city in the middle of China could spread in a matter of

By Tim Harcourt

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A Covid-19 wake-up call to reshape Timor-Leste’s economy

The economic impact of coronavirus has been made even more severe in oil-producing countries due to the consequences of Covid-19 itself and a collapse in oil prices. Crude has fallen below US$20 per barrel as demand for oil has plummeted. This dual shock has made it harder for oil producing

By Joao da Cruz Cardoso

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Is this the Kindleberger moment?

In 1973 Charles Kindleberger wrote his now acclaimed book on the Great Depression. He argued that it was “great” because the global economic system had lost its hegemon – in less exotic terms, its system manager. In the interwar period, the UK was the system manager, but given the grievous

By Peter Layton

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The Taliban makes the most of Covid-19 crisis in Afghanistan

Across the world, non-state entities from terrorist groups to drug cartels are taking steps to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has been no exception to the trend. The insurgent group has launched a public-health awareness campaign that both the Afghan Ministry of Public

By Roshni Kapur, Chayanika Saxena

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The Director’s Chair Ep2: Lord Mervyn King on COVID-19, radical uncertainty and economic forecasting

In the second episode of The Director's Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with Lord Mervyn King about COVID-19, global economic downturn, the UK's response to the virus, Brexit, and what Lord King terms the 'radical uncertainty' of economic forecasting during a global crisis

By Michael Fullilove

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Beware letting inexact science of modelling drive policy

Originally published in The Australian

By Stephen Grenville

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ISIS looks to prosper in a world distracted by the virus

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the heart of Europe. The severity of the virus has forced policymakers to shift their priorities almost exclusively to the home front. As a result, international security concerns, particularly the fight against the remnants of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, which had until

By Kareem Salem

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COVIDcast Episode 8: Covid-19 and the World Health Organisation

In this episode of COVIDcast, Natasha Kassam, Lowy Institute Research Fellow, sat down with Joel Negin to discuss the current controversy surrounding the World Health Organization and its handling of the pandemic. Negin is Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney. “We can lament

By Natasha Kassam, Joel Negin

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Strength in numbers: The benefit from global efforts to halt the virus

It is likely that the isolationist trend in global politics will be strengthened after Covid-19. For many policymakers – and a large section of global public opinion – the vulnerability of international supply lines for medical equipment and pharmaceuticals seemingly points to only one

By Nicholas Bosworth, Hervé Lemahieu

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105 years on, a digital commemoration marks a very different Anzac Day

This year, Anzac Day is different. The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the enforcement of measures to keep people physically apart and the cancelling of public gatherings and events, including Anzac Day services and marches. This leaves Australians and residents who had planned to attend Anzac Day

By Federica Caso

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COVIDcast Episode 8: COVID-19 and the World Health Organization

COVIDcast is a Lowy Institute pop-up podcast for anyone interested in understanding the effect of coronavirus on global politics. In Episode 8, Natasha Kassam, the Institute's Research Fellow in the Diplomacy and Public Opinion Program, sits down with Joel Negin to discuss the current pressures

By Natasha Kassam, Joel Negin

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The danger of disease in the world’s largest refugee camp

The Bangladesh government made the decision earlier this month to place the southern district of Cox’s Bazar in lockdown as Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh increased. Cox’s Bazar hosts the world’s largest refugee camp, housing almost a million Rohingya since late 2017 when around 700,000 fled

By Eleanor Gordon, Katrina Lee-Koo

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China's coronavirus aid to Pacific islands is part of geopolitical game

Beijing is using health care to improve relations in strategically significant area. Originally published in the Nikkei Asian Review.

By Jonathan Pryke, Richard McGregor

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Europe hasn’t fallen for China – if anything, it’s the opposite

Gains for China’s reputation in Europe from Beijing’s spectacular PR-actions in the fight against the coronavirus will be short-lived. Covid-19 has not shifted the geopolitical landscape between the old European and the new Chinese world. Serbia’s President Vucic kowtow to Xi Jinping,

By Daniel Woker

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Missing in action: The G20 in the Covid crisis

As the Covid-19 pandemic deepens, the need for international cooperation to deal with the twin health and economic crises has been highlighted. While much is made of the failings of the World Health Organization, other international bodies have fared no better. In particular, the G20 – which

By Tom Chodor

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The case for the World Health Organisation

International organisations often bear the brunt of the blame when global progress is stalled – whether criticised for sapping the sovereignty of states in the name of common interests, or falling short of their stated goals and agenda. It’s a familiar story, and not entirely incorrect, when

By Charlotte Owens

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Hit hard, could Covid lead Europe to rethink economic policy?

“This is a moment of reconstruction – we need to reinvent ourselves, myself included,” declared French President Emmanuel Macron in a televised address last week, during which he extended the country’s partial lockdown until 11 May. Macron spoke of the need to reach strategic autonomy in

By Lisa Louis

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The complex consequences of a plunging oil price

Oil made headlines around the world again today, with US oil prices falling below zero for the first time. So what does it mean? Three perspectives can help to make sense of the headlines. First, from an economic perspective it’s quite simple – the supply of oil has outstripped demand and

By Christian Downie

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If this is war, that Zoom call is part of the battle

In recent weeks, several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, have invoked combat-related terms to summarise efforts to contain and contest the novel coronavirus and its effects. As each day we track the progress of casualties, emergency

By Jason Israel

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The phony war ends: PNG’s coronavirus challenge takes shape

For a few weeks it has seemed like PNG might have been engaged in a “phony war” against coronavirus. Only two cases had been confirmed across the nation of around nine million people. One was a foreign mine worker who was quickly sent out of the country once his positive test was confirmed.

By Shane McLeod

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The facts about global trade in face masks, ventilators and test kits

What impact will coronavirus have on economic globalisation, the force that has so momentously changed our world over the last half century? An early example is the global trade in medicines and medical products, especially those essential to fighting coronavirus such as face masks, ventilators

By John Edwards

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Safety of life at sea: Covid‑19 and naval operations

The potential impact of Covid-19 on naval operations has been highlighted by reports that over half of the 2,000-plus sailors aboard the French carrier Charles de Gaulle have tested positive for COVID-19. The ship left a NATO exercise ten days early and returned to port in Toulon to allow

By Sam Bateman

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Why Xi will shelter behind the great wall of secrecy

Beijing will oppose an international investigation into the pandemic because accountability would put the one-party system in the dock. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review

By Richard McGregor

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Australia needs a comprehensive plan for Covid-19 in the Pacific

Of all the regions in the world, the twin health and economic crises caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have the potential to hit the Pacific the hardest. Pacific Island nations supported Australia during our bushfire crisis, sending members of their defence forces and making donations to communities

By Pat Conroy

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