States Responses to Covid-19: A Theoretical Understanding

COVID-19 has overwhelmed the whole world as it is not just a public health tragedy but a political problem too. The paper offers a critical understanding of state’s response to COVID-19. It also reviews realism and liberalism in the COVID-19 context. Based on the studies of several journals, news media and incidents, and critical reviews of the relevant literature, this paper finds that the state’s response to COVID-19 made all the difference. Cooperation, interdependence, peaceful co-existence, and global governance have been wanting during COVID-19 in most cases. Thus, many states have faced the challenges to respond to COVID-19 in the liberal framework of international politics, while realist ideas are most effective in explaining recent phenomena. This article argues that COVID-19 has created an opportunity for academics to rethink the guiding principles of International Relations (IR) during a global pandemic like COVID-19.