Volume I, Issue 2, December 2020

(Covid-19 Pandemic and the Future of International Relations)

: December 2020

Author(s): Wilson O.V Ijide

Abstract

The paper interrogates COVID-19 pandemic Conspiracy Theories as part of great powers’ hegemonic rivalry. The theory of hegemony, as contrived by different scholars in the field of International Relations (IR) and Diplomacy, would provide the framework of analysis. The paper also examined the role of “reactance theory” not hitherto mentioned in this research field. Reactance theory was a fundamental precursor of hegemonic rivalry. It examined selected COVID-19 conspiracy theories from various sources to identify the extent to which conspiracy theories were applied as an instrument for hegemonic control and advantage in the global power dynamics. Findings from the paper revealed that great powers’ hegemonic rivalry was majorly at the root of the COVID-19 pandemic conspiracy theories alongside socio-cultural and religious motives. The paper proposed that hegemonic rivalry as a validation of Power Transition and Reactance theories would be a recurring theme in IR. And that conspiracy theories would continue to be deployed in the conduct of international relations and diplomacy as a preferred option to lethal confrontation. Consequently, states in the international system must embark on programmes to inoculate citizens against the negative impact of conspiracy theories.

Paper ID: JCIRD 0102-7       Pages 1-24               Full Text: (.pdf)

Author(s): Adaora Osondu-Oti; Festus, A; Oluwatomilade O; Michael I & Adetola A

 Abstract

The academic discourse on the global shift of power from the West to the East has been ongoing for more than two decades. China’s economic expansion following its positive economic growth in the 1990s led to the notion that China is likely to displace the United States as the dominant power in the international scene. China is the only country among other emerging economies that meets most of the criteria of an emerging superpower. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China, and further spread to all over the world, countries (both big and small) are struggling to contain the virus. China was the first to emerge out of the health crisis with steady economic recovery as the pandemic is significantly being curtailed. Due to the COVID-19 crisis faced by powerful nations and their unsuccessful containment of the virus as China did, the recent discourse among academics and analysts is that the pandemic is causing a likely shift in the global shift of power from the US to China. Thus, this paper addressed an important question. Is the COVID-19 pandemic likely to cause a “real” shift of the global power from the US to China? Findings reveal that China’s rise is evident in all sectors including economy, military, technology, and diplomatic influence but China is not yet a superpower. Although power may finally shift from the US to China in some sectors such as technological development and diplomatic influence, it will still take some years for China’s power to be consolidated. For now, the US remains the superpower and leads in many dimensions including military and economy.

Paper ID: JCIRD0102-2       Pages 25-39              Full Text: (.pdf)

COVID-19, Global Migration and the Future of International Relation

Author(s): Jamiu Adewumi Oluwatoki

Abstract

Migration is a right that people claim irrespective of the policy and actions imposed by the territorialisation of the sovereignty of the state. Migration is one of humanity’s means of expanding and sustaining civilisation. The COVD 19 pandemic put a check on global migration through the socio-political measures taken worldwide to stop the spread of the disease. These measures include social distancing, handwashing, and face masking. This study is aimed at examining the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on global migrations and the implications for the future of international relations. The paper adopted the use of discourse and analysis and the reinterpretation of existing secondary data. The study revealed the scourge of the viral disease, without having any vaccine yet, and could only be combated through non-pharmaceutical protocols. Global migration is a natural worldwide phenomenon that provides international labour force, enables the means for exercising a fundamental human right, even if International Law is incapacitated to protect it. The pandemic notwithstanding, global migration will continue in all its ramifications. International relations will retain its pre-COVID19 features with necessary adjustments. The study is relevant as it exposed the challenges posed by the pandemic and how individual and states’ vulnerabilities demonstrated the effects of globalisation on the management of the pandemic.

Paper ID: JCIRD0102-3       Pages 40-52             Full Text: (.pdf)

Author(s): Abdul Rimdap

 Abstract

This paper examines the COVID-19 pandemic and Nigeria’s Diaspora Policy. It specifically interrogates the challenges of the Diaspora Commission, an arm of the Nigerian government in charge of Diaspora matters, in attending to the needs of the Diaspora amid globalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper relies extensively on information gathered through the news media, journals, government briefs, and personal experiences of some Nigerians in the diaspora. Findings reveal that Nigeria lacks a coordinated diaspora policy as the government failed in many aspects to attend urgently to the needs of the diaspora at the outset of the pandemic. The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, although made some efforts to coordinate the evacuation of Nigerians abroad, it was done haphazardly and without adequate link with the diaspora. The country’s Draft National Policy on Diaspora Matters needs to be ratified and the Commission needs to be strengthened through the provision of adequate funds to achieve its mandate; to address the crisis of this nature and other issues confronting the Nigerian diaspora community. The diaspora is pivotal to the development of the nation and cannot be sidelined in the policy-making of the country.

Paper ID: JCIRD0102-4       Pages 53-70                   Full Text: (.pdf)

55-70

COVID-19 Pandemic and the Challenges Facing African Continental Free Trade Agreement

Author(s): S.A Igbatayo

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic emergence, which was discovered in China in late 2019, has taken the world by storm, leaving behind a trail of infected persons that are either sick or dead. The rapid spread of the pandemic took an alarming dimension in early 2020, as the scourge spread from China to other parts of Asia and European countries. This prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare COVID-19 a global pandemic. This development triggered precautionary measures to stem the pandemic, with policymakers emphasising sanitary measures, face masks, and, in areas with the most severe cases, lockdowns. The pandemic has unleashed hardships across the world, with a halt in international travel, sealing of national borders, and lockdown of business outfits. In Africa, the pandemic was initially reported in early February in Egypt and rapidly spread across the continent, driven by  international travelers. The pandemic has  taken a huge  toll on the livelihoods of Africans, who have to resort to palliatives. This development has fueled poverty and inequality. The spread of the pandemic on the continent is led by South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria. A major impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is its interruption of a key element of the new African Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), with the implementation of tariff-free on some goods scheduled to commence on 1 July 2020 now postponed in wake of the widespread concern associated with the spread of the pandemic, with grave implications for Africa’s economic growth and development.

   Paper ID: JCIRD0102-5       Pages 71-82            Full Text: (.pdf)

71-83

State Instability, Fragility amidst COVID-19 and the Nigerian Experience: A Partial Least Square, Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) Analysis

Author(s): Ali Ado Siro & Mustapha Hashim Kurfi

Abstract

The outbreak of the new coronavirus in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, brought to the world the most devastating event in the first two decades of the 21st Century. Like other countries, Nigeria observed many negative changes. Hence, it became crucial to study the multi-dimensional aspects of the virus within the country’s context. Therefore, this research purposively sampled a total of 370 respondents with 10 representing each of the 36 states and the federal capital territory (FCT), Abuja. A questionnaire was used as a data collection tool via email. There are three independent variables (IVs), one mediating variable (MV), and one dependent variable (DV). The results indicated that the outbreak of coronavirus has not possessed any effect on either public fragility or state instability. Meanwhile, the public ignorance (dogmatic belief) of the virus and poor health facilities have direct positive effects on both public fragility (susceptibility to the widespread of the disease) and state instability (turning the state incapable of some powers). Public fragility as a mediating variable maintained a direct effect with state instability. Indirectly, both the outbreak and public ignorance of the virus did not influence the Nigerian state instability. On the other hand, poor health facilities maintained an indirect relationship with state instability. This is an indication that the health sector in Nigeria is categorically in shambles. As such, authorities, media outlets, entertainment industries, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and the general public must join hands to achieve success in the management of the novel infection disease.

Paper ID: JCIRD0102-6       Pages 83-95            Full Text: (.pdf)

COVID-19       Pandemic       and      Nigeria’s         National Security: Challenges and Prospects

Author(s): Obinna Ukaeje

Abstract

The new coronavirus infectious disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a devastating impact across the world. The impact on Nigeria’s national security is examined here, to draw out strategies for a post-COVID-19 era. The need for this is borne out of the devastating impact of the pandemic on the lives of the Nigerians as well as the economy of the country. As a situational research study, the paper drew its information largely from secondary sources such as official documents from ministries, departments, and agencies of government. These include briefings of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) situational updates on Covid-19 in Nigeria, and various media publications; while content analysis was used as the research technique. Apart from the health implication of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been  further revealed that the impact of the pandemic cuts across  all facets of Nigeria’s national life, be it the political, social, economic, security, food, and even religious lives of Nigerians. Towards recovery from the devastations, the paper recommended the need to strengthen other sectors of the economy such as the service sectors, to generate revenue for national development and reduce the over-reliance on the oil sector for its national development planning. Improving the health sector should be prioritised and more money be voted for the sector to strengthen it for national health emergencies, and other aspects of human security strategies.

Paper ID: JCIRD0102-7       Pages 96-106       Full Text: (.pdf)

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National Response Strategy and International Support in Fighting COVID-19 in IDPs Camps in Northeast Nigeria

Author(s): Nasa’i Muhammed Gwadabe & Kabiru Ibrahim Danguguwa

Abstract

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) revealed that as of 30th September 2020, the country has a total of 7,599 active cases of COVID-19, while 1,111 people had died from the virus. The effect of COVID-19 on all countries is unparalleled, both in terms of fostering public health preparedness, response, and protection for vulnerable communities such as those displaced by Boko Haram in Northeast Nigeria and in terms of mitigating wider socio-economic impact. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the national response strategy and international support in fighting COVID-19 amid internal displacement through a descriptive survey. It is found that, in Nigeria, a national COVID-19 Multi-Sectoral Pandemic Response Plan has been adopted and serves as a Government response framework. On the other hand, the international partners under the World Health Organisation (WHO) play a supportive role in responding to the situation in Nigeria, while contributing across the board to the COVID-19 scourge and other needs. The response to COVID-19 in Nigeria expands on the ongoing efforts to tackle the humanitarian situation in the Northeastern part of the country. Priority is given to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in camps and camp-like settings for internally displaced persons (IDPs). The study concluded that IDPs are susceptible to Covid-19 due to the health threats associated with their displacements such as congestion, substandard shelter, poor nutritional status, and poor health and hygiene conditions. Finally, the use of evidence- based public health guidelines, such as the SPHERE standard by local and international humanitarian actors, is recommended.

Paper ID: JCIRD0102-8       Pages 118-129         Full Text: (.pdf)

Author(s): Nuhu Yaqub

Abstract

COVID-19 Pandemic, no doubt, took the global community without exception by storm when it was declared as a Pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 31st of December, 2019. Environmentalists, in particular, have argued rather ominously that our ways of consuming global resources – be they fauna or fossil – unsustainably have made pandemics inevitable occurrences on our planet. Besides, and, speaking epiphenomenally, the mode of societal organization, particularly its hierarchical and vertical structure, is likely to exacerbate the impact of coronaviruses, whenever they strike. The situation of non-sustainability in consumption, which is always going to give rise to existing social inequity and inequality in terms of access has further made the impact of the contemporary pandemics to be unequally inevitable, spatially and temporally. Of course, the impact of the current pandemic on various countries on planet earth varies from one political entity to another; but the enormous impact of the pandemic on the way humans may have to conduct their affairs, going forward, calls for serious analysis and recommendations. But before this future trajectory is calibrated for traction to the right direction, there is a need to look reflectively on the differential nature of not only of the likely impact of the pandemic on social classes in Nigeria but also the need to examine how the development, administration, and management of available services in the health sector, as key social services of unparalleled importance, have historically been approached on a class basis, therein.

Paper ID: JCIRD0102-9       Pages 124-141        Full Text: (.pdf)

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