Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
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Vol. 39, Nº 69 (Julio - Diciembre) 2021, 756-773
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Recibido el 08/04/2021 Aceptado el 14/06/2021
National security policy:
Changing priorities in the face
of the COVID-19 threat
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3969.47
Petro P. Pidyukov *
Alexander G. Kolb **
Oleh V. Batiuk ***
Ihor H. Kudria ****
Larysa S. Tarasiuk *****
Abstract
This article analyzes institutional, procedural, and behavioral
attributes, principles, and indicators of typology of challenges and
threats caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the world. The
analysis shows that most countries faced external shocks caused by
COVID-19 in the absence of a universal social protection system, a
reliable health system, a plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,
or a stable real economy with quality jobs. Economic security has become
an important priority, although this is not about social protection, but also
about supporting strategic sectors of the economy. Balancing on the brink
of the needfor socialprotection, on the one hand, and the rise of austerity,
on the other, governments opted for severe economic restrictions. Thus,
through the naaliticos method the authors describen the main geopolitical
trends that will be the basis for the construction of a new world order that
awaits us on the other side of the pandemic, including deglobalization, the
geopolitical rise of China, the severe restrictions on human and civil rights,
the intensication of the interstate armed forces, in context of growing
conicts and local protests.
* Doctor in Law, Professor, Senior Researcher, Unit for the Organization of Scientic Activity and
Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, National Academy of Internal Aairs. ORCID ID: https://
orcid.org/0000-0002-9831-845X. Email: tatust180679@gmail.com
** Doctor in Law, Professor, Departament of Political Science and Public Administration, Lesya
Ukrainka Volyn National University. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1792-4739. Email:
alexanderko3132@gmail.com
*** PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Departament of Political Science and Public Administration, Lesya
Ukrainka Volyn National University. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2291-4247. Email:
olegbatiukibpnt@gmail.com
**** Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor, Departament of Philosophy and History, V. I. Vernadsky
Taurida National University. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4324-1336. Email: ikudrya76@
gmail.com
***** Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor, Departament of Philosophy and History, V. I. Vernadsky
Taurida National University. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3863-7707. Email: loraa253@
gmail.com
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 39 Nº 69 (Julio - Diciembre 2021): 756-773
Keywords: national security; national interests; COVID-19; pandemic
threats; global transformations.
Política de Seguridad Nacional: Cambiar las
prioridades frente a la amenaza del COVID-19
Resumen
Este artículo analiza atributos, principios e indicadores institucionales,
procedimentales y de comportamiento de tipología de desafíos y amenazas
provocados por la pandemia de coronavirus en el mundo. El análisis muestra
que la mayoría de los países enfrentaron choques externos causados por
COVID-19 en ausencia de un sistema de protección social universal, un
sistema de salud conable, un plan para lograr la neutralidad de carbono
para 2050 o una economía real estable con empleos de calidad. La seguridad
económica se ha convertido en una prioridad importante, aunque no se
trata de protección social, sino ademas de apoyar sectores estratégicos de
la economía. Al equilibrarse al borde de la necesidad de protección social,
por un lado, y el surgimiento de la austeridad, por el otro, los gobiernos
optaron por severas restricciones económicas. Así, mediante el metodo
naaliticos los autores describen las principales tendencias geopolíticas
que serán la base para la construcción de un nuevo orden mundial que nos
espera al otro lado de la pandemia, incluida la desglobalización, el ascenso
geopolítico de China, las severas restricciones a los derechos humanos y
civiles, la intensicación de las fuerzas armadas interestatales, en context
de creciente conictos y protestas locales.
Palabras clave: seguridad nacional; intereses nacionales; COVID-19;
amenazas pandémicas; transformaciones globales.
Introduction
The research topicality is due to awareness of the nature of threats,
i.e., their origin, occurrence, and development. The fact is that we can talk
about threats only when national interests are clearly determined. Threats
are certain factors that arise in the environment of the object, and their
occurrence is directly related to the realization of national interests. Thus,
threats hinder both the creation of conditions for the realization of interests,
and national interests directly. On this basis we can conclude that the threat
appears where and when there are clearly determined national interests
and real steps are being undertaken to implement them.
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Petro P. Pidyukov, Alexander G. Kolb, Oleh V. Batiuk, Ihor H. Kudria y Larysa S. Tarasiuk
National security policy: Changing priorities in the face of the COVID-19 threat
In our earnest conviction, national security is, rst of all, the protection
of the vital interests of the nation. And any detail about objects, subjects,
principles of provision, priorities and threats to national interests, national
security policy, etc. is an extremely complex professional intellectual
process, which should be carried out not by situationally selected politicians,
but by experienced applied scholars through constant consultations with all
stakeholders.
The research objective is to carry out the typology of risks to national
security caused by the growing degree of pandemic threats; outline the key
geopolitical trends which will be the basis for building the new world order.
Another objective was to analyse the structural problems that have led to
the vulnerability of the national security system.
The following targets were set to achieve these objectives:
• substantiate fundamentally new theoretical approaches to ensuring
national security at the present stage.
• study the world practice of global rating assessment of the stability
of society and the state in the period of pandemic threats.
• develop an algorithm for the implementation of a modern system
of comprehensive assessment of the state of national security based
on the analysis of the best international practices in the eld of
monitoring of key international indices.
1. Literature review
A fundamental issue in the study of security problems is the distinction
between such important and fundamental categories as national security
and national interests. Without realizing the fundamental dierences
between them, we are doomed to constant hopeless scientic search.
According to Becker, Mölling and Schütz (2020) there are the results of
understanding the values of the existence of a nation. A nation does not exist
without national interests, it becomes a population, the people are an “open
society” living in a certain area and meeting their basic needs. National
interests indicate that the nation identies itself as such, it separates
itself from other nationalities or ethnic groups, and most importantly —
it proclaims the intention to continue to exist and gradual develop in its
own way based on its own historical traditions and way of life (Barno and
Bensahel, 2020).
According to Hegel (2001), only historical nations have the opportunity
to further develop and preserve a holistic identity in the context of global
transformations of worldviews and congurations of pandemic threats.
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In turn, the representatives of the public administration science (Finley
et al., 2020) dene national security as a type of social activity, the main
purpose of which is to create favourable conditions for the realization
of these interests. Therefore, national security can be seen as a national
interest.
As Sussman (2019) points out, there is every reason to believe that the
lack of clearly determined national interests that are inseparable from the
goals of the nation and do not express the will of the ruling political force
undermines the idea of national security and real sustainable development.
The scientic approach that involves levelling the process of self-reection
of the state’s interests is conceptually erroneous. This quasi-scientic
discussion arises where and when there is no methodology for considering
and researching the issue.
In this case, state interests are an ambivalent category: 1) on the one
hand, they express the interests of the state apparatus itself (any ocial
is interested in retaining the position of his immediate superior, because
in this case he will also remain in oce, etc.); 2) on the other hand, they
accumulate the needs of society and the individual, because the state is the
most eective organization of civil society and has a mechanism that can
guarantee the realization of human rights and freedoms. In this permanent
conict, many researchers ignore security issues, especially in the eld
of state security, where the latter is unacceptable and identied with the
security of the state.
In March 2020 Susskind called the catastrophe caused by the COVID-19
coronavirus infection “the closest thing to revelation from the point of view
of atheists” (Susskind, 2020: 320). It reects the biblical feeling of shock
that many people felt during the sudden, deep, rapidly growing crisis. “We
have been going with the stream for more than half a century,” the rabbi
said, “and suddenly we faced with a fragile and vulnerable humanitarian
situation” (Susskind, 2020: 320). The current crisis caused by coronavirus
infection poses a threat to national security, as it has a number of new,
unfamiliar properties. The rapid spread of the virus, which is still
unexplored, is leading to a global humanitarian crisis.
After the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is unlikely to
become the same (Lund et al., 2020). Under the inuence of the pandemic,
many threats to the stability of the world order, which have already
emerged, continue to grow. This is especially true of the development of
the digital economy against the background of increasing the use of digital
technologies, including for distance work and distance learning. Moreover,
other structural changes, such as regionalization of supply chains and
further growth of cross-border data ows, may accelerate. The future
has come too quickly, bringing, and possibly multiplying, a number of
problems such as income polarization, workers’ vulnerability, an increase
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National security policy: Changing priorities in the face of the COVID-19 threat
in the number of short-term contracts and the need for workers to adapt
to changing activities. These accelerated processes are the result not only
of scientic and technological progress, but also of new circumstances that
have arisen in connection with the threat to public health and safety, so the
economy of the countries and labour markets need time to recover, and
there is a high probability that they undergo a number of changes as a result.
As the impact of these trends grows, the realities of the current crisis
have led to a revision of a number of existing beliefs that can inuence
long-term decisions in the eld of national security (Sussman, 2019). This
applies to views on the relationship between eciency and sustainability
of increasing concentration of economic activity and life, industrial policy,
approaches to problems that aect all countries and require collective
action on a global scale (e.g. armed conicts, pandemics and climate
change), as well as changes in the role of governments and dierent
governance institutions. Over the last two decades, in developed economies,
responsibility has generally shifted from institutions to citizens. However,
inspections of health systems often reveal their ineectiveness, and such
concepts of social benets as paid sick leave or the required subsistence
level are drawing attention again.
According to Fleming (2020), there is a possibility of long-term changes
in the formation of approaches to providing civil society institutions with
a more inclusive form of common agreement through social protection
systems. As history has shown, the decisions made during the crisis can
determine the situation in the world for decades to come. At the same time,
the need to take collective measures for the development of the state security
system, which will ensure comprehensive economic growth, prosperity,
and general security, remains fundamentally important.
Bietti et al. (2020: 39) wrote: “Historically, the situation was such that
pandemics forced people to say goodbye to the past and look at the world
in a new way. It is a portal, or a gate between one world and another.” The
existing multilateral system has to undergo a number of changes in order to
bring it into line with this completely new world.
According to Philips (2020), the COVID-19 pandemic continues to test
the limits of global cooperation opportunities. In particular, the level of
support of developing countries remains very low. They suered from the
global economic downturn in the early stages of the pandemic, including
due to record capital outows and deteriorating nancial conditions. In the
context of a severe humanitarian crisis, the extremely limited budgetary
capacity of these countries is under unprecedented pressure due to the
necessity to meet the needs of health and social protection systems. The
decisions taken now will have far-reaching consequences. Maintaining the
line of policy unchanged would be unjustied and would ignore the scale of
the human suering caused by the pandemic.
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As part of an appropriate UN-led reform program, the IMF must
be involved in addressing the structural problems that have led to the
vulnerability of developing countries in terms of debt. Such a reform agenda
should provide for the gradual abandoning of the use of funds allocated
for the development in order to carry out reforms aimed at improving
the market and creating incentives to attract private investment. It is also
necessary to abandon the dogmas of austerity. Besides, rich countries must
nally begin to meet their ocial development assistance commitments.
The imbalance of power within international institutions also needs to be
corrected to ensure fair recognition of the needs and rights of two-thirds of
the world’s population living in third world countries. If the international
community fails to respond immediately and decisively to the situation, the
implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement will inevitably
be disrupted. A new multilateral system in which the reform of the Bretton
Woods Institutions will play a key role is needed now and must be based
on an approach to development that gives priority to human rights, gender
equality and climate issues.
Fukuyama (2020) notes that after the end of the rst wave of COVID-19
the world must become more inclusive, sustainable and viable. Today we live
in a world, where inequality between countries and regions within countries
within countries has increased as a result of competition for legislative
concessions in the eld of business regulation, as well as in connection
with poverty among a large part of the world’s labour force. Many countries
have faced external shocks caused by COVID-19 coronavirus infection in
the absence of a universal social protection system, a robust health care
system, a plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 or a sustainable real
economy with quality jobs. The Bretton Woods Conference, held at a time
when the war was still ongoing, helped lay the groundwork for a post-war
common agreement. Similarly, the author proposes to develop an ambitious
reconstruction plan, while we continue to take steps to stop the pandemic.
According to Slaughter (2020), international assistance is a matter of
collective survival and investment in the future of health care, the global
economy and multilateralism. The choice is ours, while the actions of the
IMF and the multilateral system will be crucial. Our goal must be to achieve
full employment and a new common agreement to restore global economic
security. Public investment in social care services, education and low-
carbon infrastructure can provide an incentive to reduce inequality.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused lasting change and gave the
world a number of important lessons, will have lasting consequences for the
world order. Screening for the virus is likely to be a part of our lives, just as
increased security measures have become commonplace since the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001. Countries need to invest in infrastructure
designed to detect future outbreaks of the virus, Shevchuk and Mentuh
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Petro P. Pidyukov, Alexander G. Kolb, Oleh V. Batiuk, Ihor H. Kudria y Larysa S. Tarasiuk
National security policy: Changing priorities in the face of the COVID-19 threat
(2020) believe. Such investment will protect the economy if the population’s
immunity to COVID-19 is temporary.
Variants of the German part-time employment program (Verordnung
über die Bezugsdauer für das Kurzarbeitergeld) were adopted in many
countries during the pandemic. This program ensures the preservation
of jobs by reducing working hours and wages, while the government
compensates for the loss of wages. The grounds for the implementation
of the precautionary measures provided for in the Verordnung über die
Bezugsdauer für das Kurzarbeitergeld program are the following:
• If a job loss is accompanied by a loss of earnings, a job loss is
signicant if it is based on economic reasons and is temporary and
inevitable.
• Job loss can be avoided if it is mainly seasonal, common to the
company or industry, based solely on organizational reasons, and
can be fully or partially retained with leave.
• In the relevant calendar month (entitlement period), at least one
third of the company’s employees suer loss of earnings in excess of
10% of their gross monthly earnings.
• The employer’s notice must be accompanied by a statement from
the trade union, if any.
By maintaining labour relations between companies and employees,
the economy will be better prepared for a rapid recovery. Mechanisms for
implementing such programs should be improved and become part of the
existing set of tools for economic recovery. Distance work is likely to become
more widespread. Evidence that working from home is at least as eective
as working in the oce has existed before, Friedrich-Vache and Endres-
Reich (2020) say. However, many companies opposed the transition to
distance work. Now, when many companies have successfully tested this
model, distance work may become standard practice. The crisis of the
pandemic has accelerated the process of transition to digital technologies,
which is reected in the further spread of e-commerce and increasing pace
of implementation of telemedicine, video conferencing, distance learning
and nancial technology. Companies accustomed to relying on international
supply systems have faced supply shortages and other diculties. It is likely
that many of these companies will soon return some of their production
previously moved overseas to their home countries. Unfortunately, this
trend will not create many jobs, as a major part of production is likely to be
automated. Governments, which became the insurers and investors of last
resort during the crisis, now play a more important role. Public debt will
grow rapidly, creating nancial problems around the world.
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2. Methods and Materials
As the focus of the study is changing priorities in the face of the Covid-19
threat, national security policy, the main elements of the mechanism of
ensuring national security are studied through conceptual analysis.
The basic material of the theoretical research included regulatory
documents and scientic publications. The research uses general scientic
methods of empirical research, logical methods and research techniques:
analysis of regulations and trends in national security indicators. Cross-
national analysis allowed distinguishing such important and fundamental
categories as national security and national interests, cross-temporal
analysis of the interwar, post-war and modern period of formation of
mechanisms for protection of national security in the period of pandemic
threats. The institutional and political attributes, types and consequences
of establishing key priorities in joint actions to overcome the crisis caused
by the new coronavirus pandemic have been identied and analysed.
In addition, the research used transitological theories, which allowed to
comprehensively, from dierent angles, consider the peculiarities of legal
relations that arise between government agencies in order to ensure national
security. Besides, the work is also reach in specic research tools of modern
political science, especially in the form of comprehensive qualitative and
quantitative methods of analysis.
2.1. Research Design
The study was carried out in several stages, each stage aimed at achieving
the relevant analytical target. Upon achieving the targets at each stage of
the study the intermediate results were systematized, and in the nal phase
of the study the overall results were tested using empirical data processing
methods.
According to the scheme of scientic research, at the rst stage (May
- June 2020), we analysed the philosophical, psychological, political,
medical, international and legal results of scientic research to study
existing scientic approaches to the concept of “national security policy”, as
well as systematized threats, risks and restrictions of human rights during
the pandemic, as the problem of national security is on the border of many
scientic elds. At the next stage (July - August 2020), the authors formed
their own vision of foreign policy priorities for the protection of national
security and the foundations of the world order. The nal stage (September
2020) was marked by the preparation of reasoned conclusions, which were
the result of long scientic research.
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National security policy: Changing priorities in the face of the COVID-19 threat
3. Results
While the world’s population is anxiously watching the rapid spread
of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which has killed about 131,000 people
worldwide, we are witnessing another dangerous trend that will cause
many social unrest, riots and even armed conicts in the future. It is the
destruction of the world order from the inside — a violation of human and
civil rights. According to Amnesty International, governments in many
countries, including Eastern Europe, use the pandemic as an excuse to
restrict the rights of their own citizens, as well as migrants seeking to cross
EU borders.
On April 15, 2020, Amnesty International’s analytical report on the
human rights situation in Europe and Central Asia in 2019 was presented.
According to Amnesty International, in many Eastern European countries,
the actions of the authorities in recent months have contributed to the loss
of credibility of regional and international human rights institutions, while
the governments of these countries have consistently violated citizens’
rights to freedom of expression and assembly, as well as their social and
economic rights.
According to Amnesty International, one example of such human rights
violations was the right of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán,
to rule the country by decrees, bypassing parliament, amid the COVID-19
pandemic. As for Poland, human rights activists have strongly condemned
the implementation, amid a pandemic, of plans to strengthen the law on
abortion and amendments to the law on sex education in schools, which
equate the concepts of “homosexuality” and “pedophilia.” Today, “political
and economic players in Central Asia, as well as in Eastern Europe, Russia
and China, are using every means to shake up the international human
rights system and the institutions designed to protect it,” the Amnesty
International’s experts said.
However, given that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was rst detected in
China in December 2019, many of the human rights violations mentioned
in Amnesty International’s 2019 report were recorded before the pandemic.
At the same time, according to human rights activists, the right to freedom of
expression in 2019 was not observed one hundred percent in any country in
Eastern Europe and Central Asia. According to an Amnesty International’s
report, even in Ukraine, where there is a wide range of media, there
have been regular attacks on journalists, which have been almost never
thoroughly investigated.
In addition to restrictions on freedom of expression in Eastern European
and Central Asian countries, human rights activists have been concerned
about corruption, women’s rights, environmental protection, and the right
to free and fair elections.
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Minor refugees from camps on the Turkish-Greek border are sent by
bus to Luxembourg and Germany. Refugees and members of certain
marginalized groups, such as the homeless or Gypsies, have been most
vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking about refugee camps on the Turkish-Greek border, experts
emphacize on a catastrophic outbreak, due to the crisis caused by the
coronavirus pandemic, the policy of protecting national borders from
refugees in the European Union has only intensied.
As for Germany, in an eort to limit the spread of COVID-19, Germany
closed the borders to all foreigners, with rare exceptions on March 16.
Today, only doctors and foreigners traveling for professional reasons can
enter Germany from neighbouring EU member states. The refugees who
do not show obvious signs of coronavirus infection at the time of crossing
the German border can also enter the country without hindrance. Even in a
pandemic, people who have left their homes in search of protection should
be able to apply for asylum in the EU. However, subject to the conditions
that are now necessary in terms of health policy.
Migrants with symptoms of the disease should be subject to the same
quarantine measures as the country’s population, the expert said. Under
these measures, refugees who are now being evacuated from Greece by
Germany (Germany has agreed to accept 50 children and adolescents from
refugee camps on the Turkish-Greek border) must rst be quarantined for
14 days.
Severe restrictions on human rights, as well as restrictions on social
support for citizens, have led to internal unrest as well as interstate armed
conicts (Figure 1).
Thus, the Libyan National Army (LNA) stops ghting against the
forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) for humanitarian
reasons against the background of the pandemic of COVID-19 coronavirus
infection. Martial law and mobilization have been declared in Azerbaijan
and the NKR. Artillery, tanks, and air force are used in battles, McInnis
(2020) says.
So far, Syria, which is also active in hostilities, have been able to avoid
COVID-19 infection. However, the Syrian authorities continue to take
measures to prevent the penetration of the dangerous virus into the country,
in particular, they are preparing places to quarantine people entering
the country. No cases of infection have been reported in Yemen, where
hostilities are taking place between the rebels and a military coalition led
by Saudi Arabia. However, the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe
began against the background of hostilities in the country. According to the
UN, about 80% of Yemen’s population will not be able to survive in such
conditions without humanitarian aid (Mintz, 2020).
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National security policy: Changing priorities in the face of the COVID-19 threat
Figure 1. Internal riots, as well as interstate armed conicts caused by
the spread of COVID-19. Developed by the author on the basis of the
scientic literature review.
Even the impending danger of COVID-19 did not force most of the
warring parties to cease hostilities. In early March, the Riyadh-led coalition
said it had prevented an attack by the Hussites on an oil tanker in the
Arabian Sea. A few days after the statement, the Arab coalition struck a
number of targets in the Yemeni port of Salif, according to representatives
of the coalition forces.
The number of COVID-19 carriers is growing in Afghanistan as well,
while the country will continue the war – the Afghan government announced
the resumption of hostilities against the Taliban on March 19.
The protests began in May 2020 in Belarus on the eve of the next
presidential election. On election day, August 9, 2020, immediately after
the vote, mass protests began throughout Belarus. During the protests,
violence was used against the protesters, dead and missing people appeared.
Strikes took place at some enterprises.
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4. Discussion
The obvious threats of social and humanitarian catastrophes have
become the basis for integration processes in Europe – EU leaders have
agreed on ve key priorities in joint action to overcome the crisis caused by
the new coronavirus pandemic.
The rst concerns the continuation of measures and the coordination of
Member States’ eorts to limit the spread of the virus. It is rst necessary to
strengthen the health care system. The World Health Organization’s (2020)
Regional Oce for Europe Technical Recommendations were developed
for this purpose (Figure 2).
Figure 2. WHO Regional Oce for Europe recommendations
The Technical Recommendations provide 10 strategic steps focused
on practical solutions that will help healthcare service planners and
healthcare system administrators in the region to ensure service continuity
in mobilizing healthcare workers to combat with a pandemic, as well as
adequate provision of resources.
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National security policy: Changing priorities in the face of the COVID-19 threat
The list of basic health services includes: scheduled vaccination;
reproductive healthcare services, including during pregnancy and
childbirth; assistance to infants and the elderly; management of mental
disorders, non-communicable diseases and infectious diseases such as HIV,
malaria and tuberculosis; critical surgical interventions in the hospital;
emergency care; palliative and hospice care; ancillary services such as basic
diagnostic imaging, laboratory services and blood bank services.
To implement global measures to disseminate COVID-19, WHO has also
updated practical planning guidelines, with an emphasis on supporting
the reorganization and maintenance of universal access to quality basic
healthcare services. The guidelines emphasize the importance of timely
information support. Such information support requires regular and open
communication, as well as active interaction with the public, to maintain
people’s trust in a system that can safely meet their basic needs and provide
infection control in healthcare facilities – in which case people will continue
to seek help and follow the recommendations of healthcare facilities.
The second priority is to coordinate eorts at the level of both the
international community and national governments to provide the
necessary medical equipment that countries need to ght the virus (Figure
3).
Figure 3. Coronavirus bailouts: Which country has the most generous
deal? (BBC News, 2020)
The third priority is to coordinate eorts to support research to accelerate
the development of a coronavirus vaccine.
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G. F. Foundation limited provides nancial and organizational support
to COVID-19 vaccine developers. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness
Innovations (CEPI) is organizing a $ 2 billion global fund for the rapid
development and testing of candidate vaccines, and predicts that the rst
clinical trial data will be available by the end of 2020. On May 4, 2020, the
WHO organized a telethon to raise $ 8.1 billion in contributions from forty
countries to support the development of vaccines to prevent COVID-19.
At the same time, the WHO has also announced the deployment of an
international “solidarity trial” to simultaneously evaluate several candidate
vaccines reaching Phase II to III clinical trials.
In September, CEPI researchers reported that 9 dierent technology
platforms had conducted research and development during 2020 to create
an eective vaccine against COVID-19. According to CEPI, most vaccine
development platforms undergoing clinical trials as of September target the
coronavirus spike protein. The platforms being developed in 2020 include
nucleic acid (RNA and DNA) technologies. Many vaccines being developed
for COVID-19 are not similar to those already used to prevent inuenza, but
use “next-generation” strategies to pinpoint the mechanisms of COVID-19
infection. Samples of vaccines being developed may increase the exibility
of antigen manipulation and increase the eectiveness of COVID-19
infection control mechanisms in vulnerable subgroups of the population,
such as healthcare workers, the elderly, children, pregnant women, and
people with weakened immune systems.
The fourth area of joint eorts is to address economic issues, as the crisis
that has hit Europe and the world has economic and social consequences.
As part of the EU Recovery Plan, the European Commission (2020) has
made adjustments to its Work Program for this year in response to the
unprecedented reality of the coronavirus. The revised Work Program
provides the nancial, social and information basis for the recovery of
Europe (Figure 4). The fth key priority is the repatriation of European
citizens who are currently in third countries and want to return home.
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National security policy: Changing priorities in the face of the COVID-19 threat
Figure 4. Stages of implementation of the Work Program for 2020
Conclusions
The most important lesson that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught the
world is the need to work together to address the problems that aect all
of humanity. Working together, we are capable of more than acting alone.
The world order began to change long before the crisis of the COVID-19
pandemic. The coronavirus has only accelerated the key geopolitical
trends on which the new world order that awaits us on the other side of the
pandemic will be built, including deglobalization, China’s geopolitical rise,
severe restrictions on human and civil rights, intensied interstate armed
conict and domestic protests.
Based on the study, we identify the main geopolitical trends which will
be the basis for building the new world order:
The rst trend is deglobalization: material and technical diculties that
arose during the current crisis already indicate the gradual abandonment
of the use of global production and sales ties, which ensure timely delivery.
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Moreover, as economic problems grow, the growing inuence of nationalism
and politics under the slogan “my country above all” will inevitably push
companies to localize their business and give preference to national and
regional cooperation.
The second trend is China’s geopolitical rise, despite the fact that China
has successfully secured the status of an economic and technological
superpower, none expected the country to become a “soft” superpower.
The current crisis could change this situation if China’s crisis diplomacy
continues and supports the position that measures taken by Beijing in
response to the pandemic outbreak have been more eective than those
taken in other countries. Of course, China’s success alone does not mean
that the situation in the country is slightly better than abroad. Statistics
published by China raise reasonable doubts about the world community.
The general distrust is due to China’s attempt to hide information about the
coronavirus outbreak, which contributed to its spread around the world.
Donald Trump and his administration use this information as an election
campaign strategy, as well as to divert attention from the results of their
ght against the pandemic. However, China will not leave it at that, so there
is a high probability that a new Cold War will break out after the current
pandemic, this time between the United States and China. Regardless of
whether a new world order is formed, there are things in the world that do
not change.
Limitations
The complexity of scientic research is due to the fact that, on the one
hand, it is impossible to conduct a comparative analysis without theoretical
data, on the other — it is impossible to form an integrated concept without
the empirical results of the analysis. In addition, there are many problems
of theoretical and methodological nature, in particular, the problem of
comparative analysis: “many cases – few variables”, the bias of selection,
Galton’s analytical neutrality, which must be solved to ensure quality
comparative research.
In turn, the diversity of research is explained by the fact that there
are dierent comparative forms of research (case studies, binary studies,
cross-temporal and cross-regional studies (Halytskyh, 2020), as well as
various research strategies – with a focus on theoretical data and with a
focus on empirical data (Muggah and Steven, 2020), which dier in both
methodological and empirical eciency, and are used in the comparative
analysis of forms of government.
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National security policy: Changing priorities in the face of the COVID-19 threat
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Esta revista fue editada en formato digital y publicada
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Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo-Venezuela
Vol.39 Nº 69
