Article published on E-International Relations
This post is originally published on The Pandemic and our Place in the World
By Christopher Hobson (CCRC Fellow)
Introduction:
An important truism within disaster studies is that all disasters are human-made. What this insight conveys is that how people act – before, during, after – plays a crucial role in shaping how a disaster unfolds, even if the trigger is from nature. Accounts that cast ‘nature as the villain’ obscure how these events are the ‘product of particular social and political environments’.1 A tsunami might be naturally occurring, but what prevention measures are in place beforehand, whether evacuation occurs promptly and properly, how authorities and communities react, these are all choices people make that help determine how destructive or damaging the tsunami will be. Likewise, the COVID-19 virus itself is beyond human control, but the way the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved has been greatly shaped by the decisions that people have made in response to the virus. From individuals to governments to international organisations, the choices people have made have been determinative in giving shape to the nature and extent of the pandemic. What follows is that understanding how the pandemic has unfolded means considering the social and societal components, how people have interpreted and responded to the virus, and through this, what impact the virus has had on the social world and our place in it.
Read more on E-International Relations