Pandemic Experiences and the Possibility of Global Health Diplomacy

Abstract

Diplomacy is one of the most prominent parts of statecraft. This research paper illustrates how the COVID-19 situation expands the importance of the incorporation of health issues into diplomatic channels. It also analyzes how the simultaneous interaction of state and non-state actors in global health issues can reduce the danger of pandemic implications rather than a nationalistic approach. Moreover, this analysis underpins how the countries of today’s world are more interdependent than ever in terms of politics and economics dealing with trade and business, people’s movement, information technology, climate change etc. Though there are theoretical and ideological disagreements in the course of diplomacy and statecraft, modern diplomacy does not avoid health issues as an element of its table of contents. It is relevant to mention that the COVID-19 pandemic spreads to all regions of the world and it is no longer an issue of a particular country. Pandemic is not new in the world, but this case is overwhelming, most rapid and unprecedented. And today’s world is more complex than ever. This situation is intertwined with several issues of politics, economics, security etc. Following the qualitative approach based on secondary sources, analyzing the recent and previous cases, examining the duel factors of national and international perspectives, the study finds that the Global Health Diplomacy characterized by cooperation, dialogue, information sharing, capacity building is needed in the battle with a pandemic like COVID-19. It also suggests transparency, accountability and integrity to achieve this goal.