Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order

In his address to the IIEA, Thomas Wright reflects on the strain the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on the international order. Arguing this is the first crisis in decades without a glimmer of American leadership, he outlines how the COVID crisis broke against a global backdrop of rising nationalism, backsliding democracy, declining public trust in governments, mounting rebellion against the inequalities produced by globalisation, resurgent great power competition, and plummeting international cooperation. Drawing on his latest book, Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order, co-written with Colin Khal, he discusses the implications of this crisis for the international order.

About the Speakers:

Thomas Wright is the Director of the Centre on the United States and Europe and a Senior Fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution. He is also a contributing writer for The Atlantic and a nonresident fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. His most recent book, Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order, was published in August 2021 by St Martin's Press. He is also author of All Measures Short of War: The Contest For the 21st Century and the Future of American Power (2017). Tom has a doctorate from Georgetown University, a Master of Philosophy from Cambridge University, and a BA and MA from University College Dublin.