BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

COVID-19 AND THE THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Author: Nahian Reza Sabriet

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2020v41n4a1

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the Covid-19 crisis prevalent all over the world from three dominant theories of international relations: neorealism, neoliberal institutionalism and social constructivism. The policies being taken globally, regionally and internationally by relevant states and other actors have been investigated from each of their perspectives. The study also tries to predict how the future policies can be based on the roles of actors or institutions related to the aforementioned theories. While neorealism looks at the pandemic as a traditional interstate competition under the rules of self-help and anarchy, neoliberal institutionalism emphasises on the roles of different institutional endeavours and governance structures. Social constructivism follows a different approach and brings in the dynamics of intersubjective identities, collective measures and normativity. In order to present a holistic analysis, the paper compares and contrasts the situation with other similar events like the outbreak of the Spanish Influenza in the previous century or other major epidemics.