Renato G. Flores Jr. - The World Corona Changed: US, China and Middle Powers in the New International Order

This concise book addresses the new geopolitical realm which will ensue from the coronavirus pandemic, exploring how the main international actors will position themselves in the post-Covid-19 realities.Contrary to some analysts, the author argues that, rather than an acceleration of existing or latent trends, the post-coronavirus world will present novel and otherwise unexpected features and challenges. Even the previously ongoing tension between the US and China will morph into an additionally complex and multidimensional puzzle, making it much more difficult to manage. In this book, the author provides a few basic tools for further analysis of the evolution of the new world situation, in an innovative way. Two main axes orient how analyses will be performed: the shape and evolution of the USChina relationship (and their interactions with other international actors), and the degree of co-operation for example, on climate change and security arrangements in the transformed world. The author suggests that the pandemic will be responsible for new emergences and fractures, and yet our ever more divided world will at the same time support unifying forces and links, highly dependent on technological developments being shared and/or protected.The primary objective of this book is to draw a broad picture which will serve as a frame of reference for analysing how the community of international actors will react to major challenges be they expected or unanticipated in the post-pandemic world. It will be of immense interest to analysts, academics, politicians and students of international relations, geopolitics, strategy, and world affairs.