Abstract
The Coronavirus outbreak showed how nobody was prepared to this crisis and to its economic, social and political implications which now represent the main challenge for political actors. However, if the measures taken by national states to curb the sanitary emergency seem to have partially restored their capacity to address the events, the Covid-19 has struck a significant blow to the already fragile multilateral system, as exemplified by the allegations – some of them based on coherent elements of criticism, other with less objective basis and misleading – to the World Health Organization (WHO). To better investigate the impact of this unprecedented crisis on the international institutions and its implications on security, the present article aims first to shed light on how two important organizations as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), have reacted and are acting to this crisis: an aspect just partially covered by the public media and that deserves to be better explored to avoid misleading interpretations. Secondly, trying to offer to the national stakeholders and public opinions a useful way to look on the Covid-19’s impact on these forums, the analysis will also reflect on the possibility that this crisis could be turn by the organizations into an opportunity to relaunch themselves and become more aware of the other elements of concern as health risks, climate change and migration which, even not strictly related with the conventional interpretation of security, are posing undeniable aspects of concern. In front of the contradiction between the emerging of complex global challenges and the deteriorating of the multilateral order, this crisis should foster organizations and states to find a new reason to cooperate in answering to the future global threats, recognizing that a better security is possible only through a comprehensive approach.
Highlights
The Coronavirus outbreak showed how nobody was prepared to this crisis and to its economic, social and political implications which represent the main challenge for political actors
The COVID-19 spread out at a time when the multilateral system was already «under enormous strain», especially as far as two of the most relevant organizations committed to international security – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – are concerned (OSCEPA, 2020a)
This situation brought into question the very essence of the transatlantic relation, as clearly stated by French president Emmanuel Macron, according to whom the alliance was «brain dead» (The Economist, 2019): heavy words delivered in the midst of the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the Atlantic Pact of 1949, which would have been overcome only in December, when the Heads of States’ London Summit restored a minimum of solidarity and cohesion (EuroNews, 2020)
Summary
The Coronavirus outbreak showed how nobody was prepared to this crisis and to its economic, social and political implications which represent the main challenge for political actors.
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