Many people blame the coronavirus epidemic on globalization, and say that the only way to prevent more such outbreaks is to de-globalize the world. Build walls, restrict travel, reduce trade. However, while short-term quarantine is essential to stop epidemics, long-term isolationism will lead to economic collapse without offering any real protection against infectious diseases. Just the opposite. The real antidote to epidemic is not segregation, but rather cooperation. Epidemics killed millions of people long before the current age of globalization. In the 14th century there were no airplanes and cruise ships, and yet the Black Death spread from East Asia…

Who ever imagined that we can all be treated as equal and ‘same-same’, as they say? Philosophers of all ages propounded the theory; wars and revolutions were made to actualize it; and the law, in fact, espouses it but, in real terms it is the views of Jean Jacqueline Rousseau in “The Social Contract” that have always prevailed. Says Rousseau: “Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains” George Orwell in “Animal Farm” pushed the argument further when he said “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others” But they reckoned without any knowledge of…

In just a few weeks a virus a ten-thousandth of a millimetre in diameter has transformed Western democracies. States have shut down businesses and sealed people indoors. They have promised trillions of dollars to keep the economy on life support. If South Korea and Singapore are a guide, medical and electronic privacy are about to be cast aside. It is the most dramatic extension of state power since the second world war. One taboo after another has been broken. Not just in the threat of fines or prison for ordinary people doing ordinary things, but also in the size and…

As a global crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic demands a coordinated global response, both to contain the spread of the disease and to safeguard the economy. The challenge may be unprecedented, but governments can and should embrace certain guidelines. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the world into a health and economic crisis of a magnitude that few could have anticipated but that everyone must now confront – together. Unless all countries deepen global coordination and cooperation as much as possible, the social stability of the entire planet could be at stake. On the economic front, many economists and policymakers seem to…