“Henry Kissinger warns that many existing domestic and international institutions that have helped govern the past decades will not survive the Covid-19 crisis. He is surely correct.
“Which institutions will endure, and what will replace those that meet their demise? Will, as Kissinger describes it, the revival of the ‘walled city’ prevail? Or will the seriousness of this moment catalyze the global cooperation that has been in such short supply to make globalization more resilient in the face of future threats?
“One need only look to the oil market to get the first glimpse at how such questions might be answered. There are three likely futures facing the oil market: one with extraordinary, expanded international cooperation between producers; another with every country fending for itself; or something in between. The decisions leading to one of these outcomes seem emblematic of the choices the world will need to make on many fronts in the face of collapsed institutions and norms following this pandemic…”