Politics as the Problem and Solution During COVID-19 and Beyond

Series launch event for a new CASBS webcast series: Social Science for a World in Crisis.

The response to the world health crisis has not been uniform. Governments used to bet on global coordination to limit the spread of economic and political troubles. But in recent years, voters and politicians have become more nationalistic and country-centric. Many leaders are dealing with the pandemic at domestic, and sometimes local or regional, levels. The approach to COVID-19 is siloed, even though collaboration would be more productive.

How political and economic leaders respond to the crisis is producing large variations in citizen perceptions of government trustworthiness as well as compliance with leaders’ prescriptions in almost all democracies. What are the effects on the capacity to govern during and after the pandemic?

Nations find themselves at turning points that are fraught with danger but that also offer a unique chance for a reset. Which road will they take?

Join Binyamin Applebaum, member of The New York Times editorial board, in a conversation on these issues with CASBS director Margaret Levi and British political economist Tim Besley, of the London School of Economics.