The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic To The Globalization And The

Contemporary World

Today globalization is constant and even irreversible. Globalization describes the

acceleration of the integration of nations into the global system. Thus, globalization is
the process of increased interconnectedness among countries most notably in the areas
of economics, politics, and culture. With covid-19 spreading fast to all corners of the
world, implications on global trade, the cross-border investment, global supply chains,
and globalization are sobering. We are seeing a de-globalizing world triggered by not so
much by protectionism but by an unexpected virus. The spread of the coronavirus has
pushed the pause button on one of the world’s biggest economic powerhouses.
Decades of globalization have created supply chains so deeply interconnected that
when there are issues in China’s economy, it’s felt across the globe. While there is no
way to tell exactly what the economic damage from the global covid-19 pandemic will
be, there is widespread agreement among economists that it will have severe negative
impacts on the global economy. The covid-19 has battered the global economy causing
the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s causing economic chaos
and uncertainty. Several industries have been adversely impacted due to the spread of
covid-19 globally. It is evident that the global economy is grinding to a halt.

The coronavirus pandemic has killed thousands of people, crashed stock

markets around the world, driven millions of the global population to claim
unemployment and caused businesses to hemorrhage money. Empty streets have
become the new normal during the covid-19 pandemic. Thousands laid-off or for load,
stores shutdown, public gatherings banned, travel restrictions and physical distancing
imposed as a third of the world practices some form of a lockdown to slow down the
spread of covid-19. And all of this is having an impact on our global economy. Industries
like airlines, import-export companies, tourism, retailers, events, restaurants, and many
other non-essential services have been hit. It’s catastrophic, we’ve never seen anything
like this. We have a huge portion of the economy and people under lockdown, that’s
going to have a huge impact on what can be produced and not produced. Many
services have been able to go digital in an effort to continue running their business such
as e-learning, online fitness classes, food and grocery delivery services, and
telecommunication apps. We’re seeing this massive push that’s going to result in all
kinds of services being available remotely that previously weren’t. And many companies
have been able to adapt from working from home, a new pattern that seems to be
forming as part of our new reality. I think this is certainly going to be one of the long-
term legacies of this crisis. People will work and interact differently. The crisis is going to
motivate capability development and the energy imperative to move digital. But there
are many industries that can’t switch to a digital platform and continue functioning such
as hair salons, spas, events, movie theatres, and the tourism industry. There are those
within the worst-case scenario, wherein they can’t transform their business model into
digital, and/or maybe a non-staple type of purchase, and have low financial resilience
(access to cash and credit), well that’s where we’re going to see carnage first. But a
particular industry that is experiencing both a positive and negative effects from covid-
19 is the oil industry. While the steep decline in gas prices isn’t good for countries which
rely on oil exports it’s a good thing for consumers and can be a benefit to the global
economy. It’s only been a few months since parts of the world have essentially come
into a halt, so figuring out how long this economic decline will last is a challenge.

For the first time in history, a majority of the global population resides in urban
areas. This rapid pace of urbanization complicates pandemic preparedness. Most of
these viruses or bacteria that have pandemic potential start in animals, they’re zoonotic
diseases. So, this recipe of urbanization, globalization and the right environmental
ecosystem is just setting us up for a spillover event. What all the success of connecting
those areas to urban areas to promote the sale of goods both the transport of people
also unfortunately promotes the transport of disease. This fast-paced spread of the
pandemic worldwide ultimately affects globalization causing it’s so called waning. For
years there has been global backlash against globalization. Now the virus has put the
entire system at risk. What’s happening to our world, is the coronavirus killing
globalization? First, we have to think the unthinkable and that globalization is without a
doubt reaching the end of its cycle. The pandemic didn’t help, because it actually breaks
the supply chains and actually encourages people to be even more anti-globalization.
But if you look at the numbers, we have seen a slowdown in exports from all the
countries. And we also have seen less financial globalization in terms of cross-border
investment and capital flows. Global transport and distribution networks have been
deeply affected by the covid-19 pandemic. Supply chains across the world were
suddenly placed under severe stress, trying to balance surging demand for certain
products with a need to limit human contacts to slow the spread of the illness. The
fallout so far has many people asking if globalization can return to what it was before
the pandemic or if global interconnectedness of the future will be altered forever.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought into sharp focus questions about the
future of globalization. As nations around the world close their borders, halt international
trade, and craft national responses to limit the spread of the disease, the current crisis
has reinforced nationalist rhetoric on economic protectionism and anti-immigration.
Nevertheless, the global spread of the pandemic has also underlined the need for
greater international cooperation as countries pool efforts to develop medical
countermeasures and extend assistance to the worst-hit regions. It this really the end of
globalization? The rapid, extensive spread of covid-19 is partly a crisis of globalization.
The pandemic gives us an opportunity to rethink our global economic system in favor of
‘deglobalization’