Fragility of Multilateralism in the Time of Covid

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic, which spread to almost all countries in the world between the end of 2019 and the first months of 2020, involved very high and growing human and social costs, as well as, by virtue of the measures necessary to contain the spread of the virus, an unprecedented contraction of economic activity worldwide. Born in China and spreading rapidly to Europe and the rest of the world, the pandemic has spread uncontrollably, altering the work programs of national and international governments and institutions, and putting pressure on national health structures and services, overwhelmed by the rapid spread of infections and the increase in hospitalizations and deaths. States, to varying degrees, found themselves unprepared to face a challenge as difficult as it was unforeseen and, sadly, not yet completed: each tried to implement the best possible strategy to stop an invader without weapons and without military apparatus, but not by therefore less dangerous and deadly. The pandemic has forced the adoption of drastic measures of social distancing and the closure of productive activities that in turn have had dramatic consequences on the economy, which has caused a collapse of the GDP in increasing difficulty.