The wide range of national reactions to the common COVID-19 shock: observations on causes and effects

ABSTRACT

Most countries adjusted their methods of management of the disease in light of experiences at home and abroad. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in Wuhan in January 2020, China locked down the entire city. But when it broke out again in June 2020, China switched to localized lockdowns, complemented by comprehensive testing and tracking. Sweden had started with the herd immunity solution to COVID-19, but the enormously higher death rate than in other Nordic countries and the absence of a superior economic performance brought about a reversal in its public health policy in mid-November. The continued American exceptionalism of Trump reflects the drivers of his political movement: the tribalist backlash against the multiculturalism in US society; and national security anxieties about the multipolar word order. The irony is that Trump’s nostalgic policies caused a disastrous economic free fall that shifted the political middle ground in the 2020 elections toward Joseph Biden.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• herd immunity; lockdown; tribalism; multiculturalism; national security; multipolar world; China; Taiwan; Sweden

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Derek Qi Ren Kok

Derek Qi Ren Kok is Research Analyst at the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia, Sunway University, Kuala Lumpur.

Wing Thye Woo

Wing Thye Woo is Research Professor at Sunway University, Kuala Lumpur (where he heads the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia and the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development); Vice-President for Asia at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, New York City; Adjunct Researcher, Institute of Population and Labour Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing; Adjunct Professor, School of Economics, Fudan University; Distinguished Fellow, Penang Institute, George Town; and Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of California Davis.