Regionalism at the Time of Covid-19: Impact and Implications in Europe, and Beyond

Abstract

Covid-19, a global pandemic that has put under unprecedented strain health systems, economies and societies all across the world, is the ultimate litmus test of regionalist projects. The capacity of regional organizations and agencies to provide a timely and resolute response to, and out of, the emergency is key to reasserting and redefining their legitimacy in the eyes of the public; the need for a broader and coordinated intervention than that many national governments are able to offer can open up new areas of competence and policymaking for regional institutions, bolstering the integration drive. Conversely, a failure to deliver could enhance pre-existing trends of fragmentation and erosion. In order to investigate the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on regional projects, this panel offers an overview of its impact and implications in three different continents: Europe, Latin America and Africa. The primary focus is on the European Union (EU), arguably the most developed regional organization and a yardstick for supranational integration elsewhere in the world. Already faced with resurgent nationalisms and centripetal drives before the pandemic outbreak, in the early days of Covid-19 many feared that the oncoming crisis would stretch intra-EU ties to breaking point. Such risk, however, has not materialised: as the months went by, the urgency of tackling the deadly effects of the pandemic has broken previous taboos (e.g. about a ‘transfer union’) and stalemate, reasserting the centrality of the Union and laying the foundation for further integration. The papers in this panel will explore this so-called ‘Delorian’ moment by focusing on two different levels: its implications for the EU’s role on the global stage, especially in light of the transatlantic relationship (Alcaro); and its impact on migration governance, in terms of a new framing discourse based on a human and humane approach (Panebianco). A push towards greater integration, however, is not the necessary outcome of the Covid-19 crisis. Looking at the experience of other regional organizations may contribute to grasping the factors underlying the success or failure in promoting a regional response. The case of Latin American and Caribbean regional organizations (Ruano and Saltalamacchia) is especially relevant, as the region includes a variety of different and partly overlapping institutions, which have varied greatly in their response capacity. In a context marked by ideological polarization among national governments and internal socio-political turmoil, several regional organizations have “taken refuge” in technical/expert cooperation and side-stepped political paralysis with different degrees of success. In the case of Africa (Ojo Oloruntoba), previous experience with the Ebola epidemic in Western Africa led to the establishment of the African Centres for Disease Control, an agency of the African Union aimed at strengthening the capacity and capability of public health institutions as well as partnerships to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks. A regional approach to managing the Covid-19 pandemic looks especially imperative in view of the interconnectedness of African countries, fluidity of borders and limited capacity of many of the states on the continent.

Title	Details
The European Union in a COVID World	View Paper Details
A Discursive Re-Conceptualization of Migration in the Midst of the Covid19 Crisis. A European Human and Humane Approach or Business as Usual?	View Paper Details
Latin American Regionalism During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Saved by Functionalism?	View Paper Details
COVID 19 and Regionalism in Africa	View Paper Details