COVID-19: Potential Implications for 
March 10, 2021 
International Security Environment—Overview  Ronald O'Rourke 
of Issues and Further Reading for Congress 
Specialist in Naval Affairs 
  
Some observers argue the COVID-19 pandemic could be a world-changing event with potentialy 
Kathleen J. McInnis 
profound and long-lasting implications for the international security environment and th e U.S. 
Specialist in International 
role in the world. Other observers are more skeptical that the pandemic will have such effects. 
Security 
  
Observers who argue the pandemic could be world-changing for the international security 
environment and the U.S. role in the world have focused on several areas of potential change, 
 
including the following, which are listed here separately but overlap in some cases and can 
interact with one another: 
  world order, international institutions, and global governance; 
  U.S. global leadership and the U.S. role in the world; 
  China’s potential role as a global leader; 
  U.S. relations and great power competition with China and Russia, including the use of the pandemic as a 
theme or tool for conducting ideological competition; 
  the relative prevalence of democratic and authoritarian or autocratic forms of government; 
  societal tension, reform, transformation, and governmental stability in various countries; 
  the world economy, globalization, and U.S. trade policy; 
  the characteristics and conduct of conflict; 
  allied defense budgets and U.S. alliances; 
  the cohesion of the European Union; 
  the definition of, and budgeting for, U.S. national security; 
  U.S. defense strategy, defense budgets, and military operations; 
  U.S. foreign assistance programs and international debt relief; 
  activities of non-state actors; 
  the amount of U.S. attention devoted to ongoing international issues other than the pandemic; and 
  the role of Congress in setting and overseeing the execution of U.S. foreign and defense policy. 
Issues for Congress may include whether and how the pandemic could change the international security environment, 
whether the Biden Administration’s actions for responding to such change are appropriate and sufficient, and what 
implications such change could have for the role of Congress in setting and overseeing the execution of U.S. foreign and 
defense policy. 
Congress’s decisions regarding these issues could have significant and even profound implications for U.S. foreign and 
defense policy, and for the status of Congress as a co-equal branch relative to the executive branch in setting and overseeing 
the implementation of U.S. foreign and defense policy. 
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Contents 
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 
Overview of Potential Implications .................................................................................... 1 
World Order, International Institutions, and Global Governance........................................ 1 
U.S. Global Leadership and Role in the World ............................................................... 2 
China’s Potential Role as a Global Leader ..................................................................... 2 
U.S. Relations and Great Power Competition with China and Russia ................................. 2 
Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Autocracy................................................................. 3 
Societal Tension, Reform, and Transformation, and Governmental Stability ....................... 3 
World Economy, Globalization, and U.S. Trade Policy .................................................... 4 
Allied Defense Spending and U.S. Alliances .................................................................. 4 
European Union ........................................................................................................ 4 
Definition of, and Budgeting for, U.S. National Security.................................................. 4 
U.S. Defense Strategy, Defense Budget, and Military Operations ...................................... 5 
U.S. Foreign Assistance, International Debt Relief, and Refugee Policy ............................. 5 
Non-state Actors........................................................................................................ 5 
U.S. Attention to International Issues Other than COVID-19 ............................................ 5 
Role of Congress ....................................................................................................... 5 
Further Reading ........................................................................................................ 5 
Potential Issues for Congress ............................................................................................ 5 
 
Appendixes 
Appendix A. Related CRS Reports..................................................................................... 7 
Appendix B. Additional Writings ..................................................................................... 10 
 
Contacts 
Author Information ....................................................................................................... 41 
 
 
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Introduction 
Some observers argue the COVID-19 pandemic could be a world-changing event with potential y 
profound and long-lasting implications for the international security environment and the U.S. 
role in the world. Other observers are more skeptical that the pandemic wil  have such effects. 
This report provides a brief overview of some potential implications  the pandemic might have for 
the international security environment, and a bibliography of CRS reports and other writings for 
further reading. 
Issues for Congress may include whether and how the pandemic could change the international 
security environment, whether the Biden Administration’s actions for responding to such change 
are appropriate and sufficient, and what implications such change could have for the role of 
Congress in setting and overseeing the execution of U.S. foreign and defense policy. 
Congress’s decisions regarding these issues could have significant implications for U.S. foreign 
and defense policy, and for the status of Congress as a co-equal branch relative to the executive 
branch in setting and overseeing the implementation of U.S. foreign and defense policy. 
Appendix A presents a list of CRS reports that provide more in-depth discussions of issues 
presented in this report. Appendix B presents a list of additional writings reflecting various 
perspectives on these issues. 
Overview of Potential Implications 
Areas of potential change reflected in writings from observers who view the pandemic as a 
potential y  world-changing event include but are not limited to those discussed below. Although 
these areas of potential change are presented separately, they overlap in some cases and can 
interact with one another. 
World Order, International Institutions, and Global Governance 
Some observers have focused on the possibility that the pandemic could cause or accelerate 
changes to the U.S.-led liberal  international order that has operated since World War II, to the 
international institutions and norms that contribute to it, and consequently to global governance.1 
                                              
1 For more on the U.S.-led  liberal  international order and the concept of world order generally, see CRS  Report 
R44891, U.S. Role in the World:  Background and Issues for Congress,  by Ronald O'Rourke. As discussed  in that 
report, t he term international order or world order generally refers in foreign policy discussions  to the collection of 
organizations, institutions, treaties, rules, norms, and practices that are intended to organize, structure, and regulate 
international relations during a given historical period. 
Other terms used  to refer to the U.S.-led liberal international order include postwar international order, rules-based 
international order, and open international order. Observers  sometimes substitute world for international, or omit 
international or world and refer simply to the liberal order, the U.S.-led order, and so on. In the terms liberal 
international order and liberal order, the word liberal does  not refer to the conservative-liberal construct often used in 
discussing  contemporary politics in the United States or other countries. It is, instead, an older use  of the term that 
refers to an order based  on the rule of law,  as  opposed to an order based  on the arbitrary powers of hereditary 
monarchs.  
T hough often referred to as if it is a fully developed or universally established  situation, the liberal international order,  
like other international orders that preceded it, is incomplete in geographic reach and in other ways; partly aspirational; 
not fixed in stone, but rather subject to evolution over time; sometimes violated by its supporters; not entirely free of 
might -makes-right behavior; resisted or rejected by certain states and non-state actors; and subject  to various stresses 
and challenges. 
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Changes to the international order and its supporting institutions and norms could affect the 
international context for addressing not only the pandemic, but other international issues as wel . 
U.S. Global Leadership and Role in the World 
The pandemic could influence discussions over the costs and benefits to the United States of 
acting as a global leader, not only with respect to global health but across a range of issues. 
During the Trump Administration, some observers focused on how the pandemic may have 
il ustrated the strengths or weaknesses of the Trump Administration’s “America First” approach 
to the U.S. role in the world. During the Trump Administration, some observers argued that the 
pandemic demonstrated that the United States was maintaining or reasserting its role as global 
leader, while others argued that the pandemic demonstrated that the United States was choosing 
to withdraw from or was no longer capable of performing that role, and that the pandemic was the 
first major international crisis since World War II for which the United States did not serve as the 
leader for spearheading, organizing, or implementing an international response. 
Some observers, including some foreign observers, have argued that the U.S. domestic response 
to the pandemic is demonstrating weaknesses in U.S. democracy, governance, and public health, 
particularly in comparison to how certain other countries have responded to the pandemic within 
their own borders, and that this wil  reduce the ability of the United States in the future to offer 
itself or be accepted by other countries as a global leader on other international  issues or as a 
model for other countries to emulate. 
Other observers have argued that the U.S. response to the pandemic is focusing international 
attention on what they view as a need for reform at the World Health Organization (WHO), 
demonstrating the strength and innovativeness of the U.S. scientific establishment in terms of 
developing vaccines and other medical responses to the pandemic, and demonstrating the 
flexibility  and resiliency of the U.S. federal system in terms of permitting states and localities to 
respond to the pandemic in ways that are tailored to local conditions. 
China’s Potential Role as a Global Leader 
Some observers have focused on how the pandemic may be providing insight into whether China 
desires and is working to become a global leader on par with (or in the place of) the United 
States, whether China has a capacity for doing so, and how other countries might view China 
acting in such a role. China’s transparency, particularly regarding its actions in the early days of 
its COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, as wel  as China’s actions to send vaccines, other medical 
supplies, and medical personnel to other countries, have become one element of a broader 
ongoing discussion regarding China’s capacity or suitability for acting as a global leader. This 
ongoing discussion includes consideration of a range of other issues, including China’s actions 
for implementing its Belt and Road Initiative, China’s territorial disputes with other countries, its 
participation in international organizations, and its technology-development and international 
lending activities. 
U.S. Relations and Great Power Competition with China 
and Russia 
Some observers have focused on how the pandemic has become a significant element in U.S-
China relations, and in U.S. great power competition with China and Russia. For some observers, 
the pandemic presents an opportunity for U.S.-China cooperation on an important international 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
issue of common interest. For other observers, the pandemic is a major source of dispute and an 
arena of competition between the two countries, and is causing U.S.-China relations to harden 
more fully into a Cold War-like adversarial situation. 
Some observers have focused on what they view as a competition or race between the United 
States, China, Russia, and other countries to develop and administer effective vaccines for the 
coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and thus be able to restore their economies to full operation 
sooner than other countries, and/or exploit foreign access to their vaccines as foreign policy 
levers, and thereby gain a political-economic advantage in the post-pandemic world. The terms 
vaccine diplomacy and vaccine nationalism are being used by some of these observers to refer to 
aspects of this perceived competition or race. Some observers have expressed concern that 
decisions by countries to pursue vaccine development and deployment in a competitive, 
individual  manner rather than a cooperative, multilateral manner could reduce the overal  
effectiveness of efforts to develop and administer effective vaccines and thereby prolong the 
pandemic. 
Some observers have focused on the pandemic as a factor in the discussion of whether the United 
States should decouple its economy from China’s and reduce its dependence on China for key 
materials and products, including hospital supplies and pharmaceuticals. Some observers have 
focused on whether the U.S. and Chinese responses to the pandemic wil  affect views around the 
world regarding the relative merits of the U.S. and Chinese forms of government and economic 
models as potential examples to emulate. 
Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Autocracy 
Related to the point above about forms of government, some observers have focused on the 
potential impact of the pandemic on discussions in various countries regarding the merits of 
democracy compared to those of other forms of government. Some observers have focused on 
whether the pandemic is providing national leaders with an opportunity or rationale for taking 
actions to seize greater power and move their countries away from democracy and toward 
authoritarianism or autocracy, or strengthen or consolidate their already-existing authoritarian or 
autocratic forms of government. 
Societal Tension, Reform, and Transformation, and 
Governmental Stability 
Beyond the specific point above about potential movement toward greater authoritarianism and 
autocracy, some observers have focused on the possibility that the pandemic more general y could 
cause increased social tensions in certain countries, could lead to (or present opportunities for) 
societal reforms and transformations, and could destabilize and perhaps cause the downfal  of 
governments, akin to the effects of certain past world-changing events, such as World War I.2 
                                              
2 For brief discussions  of the impacts of World War I on societies and governments, see, for example, Robert Wilde, 
“T he Consequences of World War I, Political and Social  Effects of the War to End All Wars,” ThoughtCo., July 10, 
2019; John Horne, “ T he First World War: the Aftermath, T he Years Following the End of the War Were Marked by 
More Wars, Political Upheaval and Deep Social  Change,” Irish Times, April 24, 2018; Steven Mintz, “ Historical 
Context: T he Global Effect of World War I,” History Now  (Gilder Lehrm an Institute of Am erican History) , undated, 
accessed  April 16, 2020; Margaret MacMillan, “ World War I: T he War T hat Changed Everything,” Wall Street 
Journal, June 20, 2014; Steven Erlanger, “ T he War to End All Wars? Hardly. But It Did Change T hem Forever. ” New 
York Tim es, June 26, 2014; Jay Winter, “ How the Great War Shaped  the World,” Atlantic, World War I issue 
(September 29, 2014); Kathleen Haley, “ 100 Years after WWI: T he Lasting Impacts of the Great War,” Media, Law & 
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Such changes could alter the political orientations, national strategies, foreign policies, and 
defense policies of the countries in which they occur, potential y inducing follow-on effects 
among governments and other global actors that interact with those countries. 
World Economy, Globalization, and U.S. Trade Policy 
Some observers have focused on the possibility that the pandemic could lead to significant and 
potential y long-lasting changes to the world economy that in turn could reshape the international 
security environment. Among other things, observers have focused on the possibility that the 
COVID-19 situation could lead the world economy into a significant recession—an effect that 
could contribute to the societal tensions mentioned in the previous point. Noting that the 
pandemic has reduced world trade volumes and disrupted global supply chains, they have focused 
on the question of whether economic globalization wil  as a result be slowed, halted, or reversed. 
Observers are monitoring how such effects could influence or be influenced by U.S. trade policy. 
Allied Defense Spending and U.S. Alliances 
The so-cal ed burden-sharing issue—that is, the question of whether U.S. al ies are shouldering a 
sufficient share of the collective al ied  defense burden—has long been a point of contention 
between the United States and its al ies  around the globe. Some observers have focused on the 
possibility that the costs that U.S. al ies are incurring to support their economies during stay-at-
home/lockdown periods wil  lead to offsetting reductions in their defense expenditures. Some 
observers argue that the NATO al ies in Europe in particular may experience contractions in their 
defense budgets for this reason. More general y, some observers argue that if the pandemic causes 
a global recession, al ied defense budgets could be further reduced—a potential impact that could 
affect not only NATO al ies  in Europe, but those in Asia as wel . 
European Union 
Some observers have additional y focused on the question of whether the pandemic is creating 
tensions—or, conversely, opportunities for greater coordination—among the European Union 
member states, and what impact the pandemic might ultimately have on the cohesion of the 
European Union. 
Definition of, and Budgeting for, U.S. National Security 
Some observers have focused on the question of whether the pandemic wil  (or should) lead to a 
revised definition of U.S. national security, particularly one that is less military-centric and more 
focused on what are sometimes cal ed human-security-oriented chal enges or global issues, such 
as climate change, that have sometimes been more at the periphery of U.S. national security 
policy and plans. Such a change in definition could lead to a changed al ocation of funding 
between the Department of Defense (DOD) and other government agencies that perform national-
security-related tasks, a realignment of resources within DOD between combat-oriented programs 
and other programs (such as those related to DOD’s mission of providing defense support of civil 
authorities), and perhaps a changed al ocation of funding among the agencies other than DOD 
that perform national-security-related tasks. 
                                              
Policy (Syracuse University), July  28, 2014; “ Aftermath of World War I,” Wikipedia, updated April 11, 2020, accessed 
April 16, 2020. 
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U.S. Defense Strategy, Defense Budget, and Military Operations 
Some observers have focused on the question of whether the large federal expenditures being 
made in response to the domestic U.S. economic effects of the pandemic, and the impact these 
expenditures wil  have on the federal budget deficit and federal debt, could lead to greater 
constraints in coming years on U.S. defense spending levels. As a follow-on matter, these 
observers are additional y focusing on the question of whether responding to such increased 
constraints wil  (or should) lead to revisions in U.S. defense strategy, changes in U.S. defense 
programs, and a reduction or termination of certain overseas U.S. military operations. 
U.S. Foreign Assistance, International Debt Relief, and 
Refugee Policy 
Some observers have focused on the question of whether the pandemic is providing a new lens 
through which to measure the value of U.S. foreign assistance, international debt relief, and 
refugee policy in promoting U.S. interests, particularly in connection with the previously 
mentioned issue of whether to revise the definition of U.S. national security to make it less 
military-centric. 
Non-state Actors 
Some observers have focused on how non-state actors such as international terrorist and criminal 
organizations are reacting to the pandemic, and on how much priority should be given to 
countering such actors in the future, particularly in a context of a changed definition of U.S. 
national security. 
U.S. Attention to International Issues Other than COVID-19 
Some observers have focused on whether responding to the pandemic is affecting the time and 
resources that U.S. leaders and agencies can devote to addressing other international issues of 
concern to the United States that predate but continue to exist in paral el  with the pandemic. U.S. 
officials warned other countries to not take actions during the pandemic to chal enge U.S. 
interests around the world or otherwise test U.S. resolve or responsiveness on the thinking that 
the pandemic is distracting the U.S. government from other concerns or reducing U.S. capacity 
for responding to any such chal enges. 
Role of Congress 
A few observers have focused on the issue of how the pandemic has affected Congress’s activities 
for conducting oversight of the Administration’s foreign policy actions. 
Further Reading 
For further reading on the topics outlined above, see the CRS reports presented in Appendix A 
and the additional writings presented in Appendix B. 
Potential Issues for Congress 
Potential issues for Congress regarding implications of the pandemic for the international security 
environment and the U.S. role in the world include but are not limited  to the following: 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
  Will  the pandemic change the international security environment, and if so, in 
what ways? How clearly can potential changes be anticipated?  
  How should the United States respond to potential changes in the international 
security environment arising from the pandemic and its effects, particularly in 
light of uncertainty regarding the precise nature and likelihood  of these changes? 
How might U.S. action or inaction influence or accelerate these changes? 
  What does the pandemic demonstrate about the role of the United States as a 
global leader? What impact, if any, wil  the U.S. domestic response to the 
pandemic have on the ability of the United States in the future to offer itself or be 
accepted by other countries as a global leader on other international issues, or to 
serve as a model for other countries to emulate in terms of their own political 
systems, governance, and economic models? 
  What actions is the Administration developing to respond to potential changes in 
the international security environment arising from the pandemic? Does 
Congress have sufficient visibility into these actions? Are these actions 
appropriate and sufficient? What metrics should Congress use to assess them? 
  What implications do potential changes in the international security environment 
arising from the pandemic have for the role of Congress in setting and overseeing 
the execution of U.S. foreign and defense policy? Is Congress appropriately 
organized for maintaining Congress as a co-equal branch of government relative 
to the executive branch in addressing these potential changes? If the pandemic 
becomes a world-changing event for the international security environment and 
the U.S. role in the world, what implications, if any, might that have for 
congressional organization and operations? 
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Appendix A. Related CRS Reports 
CRS reports that provide more in-depth discussions of specific issues discussed in this report 
include the following, which are presented in alphabetical order of their titles:3 
  CRS Insight IN11198, Bolivia Postpones May Elections Amidst COVID-19 
Outbreak, by Clare Ribando Seelke. 
  CRS Legal Sidebar LSB10525, Can the United States Sue China over COVID-19 
in an International Court?, by Stephen P. Mulligan. 
  CRS Report R46209, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: CRS 
Experts, by Matthew B. Barry. (Includes a section listing CRS experts on 
international response activities relating to the COVD-19 pandemic.) 
  CRS Report R46354, COVID-19 and China: A Chronology of Events (December 
2019-January 2020), by Susan V. Lawrence. 
  CRS Insight IN11496, COVID-19 and Emerging Global Patterns of Financial 
Crime, by Liana W. Rosen. 
  CRS In Focus IF11606, COVID-19 and Foreign Assistance: Congressional 
Oversight Framework and Current Activities, by Nick M. Brown and Emily M. 
Morgenstern. 
  CRS In Focus IF11496, COVID-19 and Foreign Assistance: Issues for Congress, 
by Nick M. Brown, Marian L. Lawson, and Emily M. Morgenstern. 
  CRS In Focus IF11575, COVID-19 and Global Food Security: Issues for 
Congress, by Alyssa R. Casey and Emily M. Morgenstern. 
  CRS Insight IN11288, COVID-19 and the Defense Industrial Base: DOD 
Response and Legislative Considerations, by Heidi M. Peters. 
  CRS Insight IN11279, COVID-19 and U.S. Iran Policy, by Kenneth Katzman. 
  CRS Legal Sidebar LSB10424, COVID-19: An Overview of Trade-Related 
Measures to Address Access to Medical Goods, by Nina M. Hart. 
  CRS Report R46633, COVID-19 Vaccines: Global Health Issues, coordinated by 
Sara M. Tharakan 
  CRS Report R46304, COVID-19: China Medical Supply Chains and Broader 
Trade Issues, coordinated by Karen M. Sutter. 
  CRS Insight IN11387, COVID-19: Defense Production Act (DPA) Developments 
and Issues for Congress, by Michael H. Cecire and Heidi  M. Peters. 
  CRS Insight IN11305, COVID-19: Defense Support of Civil Authorities, by 
Lawrence Kapp and Alan  Ott. 
  CRS In Focus IF11421, COVID-19: Global Implications and Responses, by Sara 
M. Tharakan et al. 
  CRS Insight IN11280, COVID-19: Industrial Mobilization and Defense 
Production Act (DPA) Implementation, by Michael H. Cecire and Heidi  M. 
Peters. 
                                              
3 Additional CRS  reports that do not include COVID-19 in their titles and are not listed here may include  discussions  of 
the international implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
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  CRS Insight IN11481, COVID-19 International Responses: Resources for 
Comparison with U.S. Policies, by Hannah Fischer and Sara M. Tharakan. 
  CRS Insight IN11583, COVID-19 International Responses: Resources for the 
117th Congress, by Hannah Fischer and Sara M. Tharakan.  
  CRS Legal Sidebar LSB10436, COVID-19: International Trade and Access to 
Pharmaceutical Products, by Nina M. Hart. 
  CRS In Focus IF11525, COVID-19: National Security and Defense Strategy, by 
Kathleen J. McInnis. 
  CRS Video WVB00330, COVID-19 Public Health Series: Global Health and 
Development, by Sara M. Tharakan et al. 
  CRS Insight IN11435, COVID-19-Related Suspension of Nonimmigrant Entry, 
by Jil  H. Wilson. 
  CRS Report R46342, COVID-19: Role of the International Financial 
Institutions, by Rebecca M. Nelson and Martin A. Weiss. 
  CRS Insight IN11273, COVID-19: The Basics of Domestic Defense Response, 
coordinated by Michael J. Vassalotti. 
  CRS In Focus IF11434, COVID-19: U.S.-China Economic Considerations, by 
Karen M. Sutter and Michael D. Sutherland. 
  CRS Insight IN11470, Defense Production Act (DPA): Recent Developments in 
Response to COVID-19, by Michael H. Cecire and Heidi  M. Peters. 
  CRS In Focus IF11635, Europe, COVID-19, and U.S. Relations, by Kristin 
Archick et al. 
  CRS In Focus IF11551, Export Restrictions in Response to the COVID-19 
Pandemic, by Christopher A. Casey and Cathleen D. Cimino-Isaacs. 
  CRS Legal Sidebar LSB10467, Foreign Sovereign Immunity and COVID-19 
Lawsuits Against China, by Jennifer K. Elsea. 
  CRS Insight IN11493, Global Economic Growth Forecasts: Impact of COVID-
19, by James K. Jackson. 
  CRS Report R46430, Global Democracy and Human Rights Impacts of COVID-
19: In Brief, coordinated by Michael A. Weber. 
  CRS In Focus IF11548, Helping U.S. Citizens Abroad During the COVID-19 
Pandemic and Other International Crises: Role of the Department of State, by 
Cory R. Gil . 
  CRS Report R46270, Global Economic Effects of COVID-19, coordinated by 
James K. Jackson. 
  CRS In Focus IF11537, Intelligence Community Support to Pandemic 
Preparedness and Response, by Michael E. DeVine. 
  CRS In Focus IF11581, Latin America and the Caribbean: Impact of COVID-19, 
by Mark P. Sullivan  et al.  
  CRS Insight IN11535, Mexican Drug Trafficking and Cartel Operations amid 
COVID-19, by June S. Beittel and Liana W. Rosen. 
  CRS Insight IN11619, New COVID-19 Defense Production Act (DPA) Actions: 
Implementation Considerations, by Michael H. Cecire, Nina M. Hart, and Heidi 
M. Peters.  
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  CRS Insight IN11593, New Presidential Directives on the Defense Production 
Act (DPA) and the COVID-19 Pandemic, by Michael H. Cecire and Heidi  M. 
Peters. 
  CRS Report R46319, Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19): Q&A on Global 
Implications and Responses, coordinated by Tiaji Salaam-Blyther. 
  CRS In Focus IF11532, Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Impact in 
Africa, coordinated by Alexis Arieff. 
  CRS In Focus IF11480, Overview: The Department of Defense and COVID-19, 
coordinated by Kathleen J. McInnis. 
  CRS Insight IN11365, President Trump Criticizes VOA Coverage of China’s 
COVID-19 Response, by Thomas Lum and Matthew C. Weed. 
  CRS Insight IN11231, The Defense Production Act (DPA) and COVID-19: Key 
Authorities and Policy Considerations, by Michael H. Cecire and Heidi  M. 
Peters. 
  CRS Insight IN11337, The Defense Production Act (DPA) and the COVID-19 
Pandemic: Recent Developments and Policy Considerations, by Michael H. 
Cecire and Heidi  M. Peters. 
  CRS In Focus IF11029, The Venezuela Regional Humanitarian Crisis and 
COVID-19, by Rhoda Margesson and Clare Ribando Seelke. 
  CRS Insight IN11369, U.S. Funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), 
by Luisa Blanchfield  and Tiaji Salaam-Blyther. 
  CRS Insight IN11325, U.S. Travel and Tourism and COVID-19, by Michaela D. 
Platzer. 
  CRS In Focus IF11494, Wildlife Trade, COVID-19, and Other Zoonotic 
Diseases, by Pervaze A. Sheikh and Katarina C. O'Regan. 
  CRS In Focus IF11513, WTO: Ministerial Delay, COVID-19, and Ongoing 
Issues, by Cathleen D. Cimino-Isaacs, Rachel F. Fefer, and Ian F. Fergusson. 
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Appendix B. Additional Writings 
In presenting sources of additional reading, this appendix includes some examples of writings 
reflecting various perspectives on the potential implications of the pandemic on the international 
security environment and the U.S. role in the world, organized by specific themes or topics. 
Within each section, the items are presented in chronological order, with the most recent on top. 
For some of the sections, additional citations with dates earlier than that of the last item listed in 
the section can be found in previous versions of this CRS report. 
General/Multitopic 
Edward Alden, “The Human Cost of Endless Pandemic Border Closures, One Year after the 
World Declared Borders Shut, There Is Stil  No Plan to Reduce the Toll on Mil ions  of Lives, ” 
Foreign Policy, February 26, 2021. 
Simon Lester Huan Zhu, “The Danger of Blindly  Navigating Data Nationalism, Digital Trade and 
the Flow of Digital Information Are Certain to Grow in Prominence in the Future. The 
Coronavirus Pandemic Has Pushed Their Growth Curve Along,” National Interest, February 21, 
2021. 
Judd Devermont, A Post-Covid-19 Reset, The Future of Africa’s Foreign Partnerships, Center for 
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), February 2021, 14 pp. 
John R. Al en  et al., “The World After the Coronavirus, We Asked 12 Leading Thinkers to Predict 
What Happens in 2021 and Beyond,” Foreign Policy, January 2, 2021. 
IISS Manama Dialogue 2020 Special Publication: The Strategic and Geo-economic Implications 
of the COVID-19 Pandemic, International Institute for Strategic Studies, December 2020, 54 pp. 
Colum Lynch, “U.N. Peacemaking in the Age of Plague, United Nations Diplomats and Civil 
Servants Fear Peace Efforts in Geneva May Aid the Spread of The Coronavirus,” Foreign Policy, 
November 13, 2020. 
Matthew Lavietes, “U.N. Says Pandemic Wil  Slow Already Miniscule Progress in Women’s 
Rights,” Thomson Reuters Foundation News, October 20, 2020. 
Travis Bubenik, “Costlier Than War: Researchers Put Pandemic’s [U.S.] Price Tag at $16 
Tril ion,” Courthouse News Service, October 12, 2020. 
Joseph S. Nye Jr., “COVID-19 Might Not Change the World, Pandemics Are Not Always 
Transformative Events. While Some Worrying Preexisting Trends Could Accelerate, It’s Incorrect 
to Assume that the Coronavirus Wil   End Globalization,  Kil   Liberal Democracy, or Enhance 
China’s Soft Power,” Foreign Policy, October 9, 2020. 
IGCC Experts, “Global Cooperation in the Time of COVID-19,” Institute on Global Conflict and 
Cooperation, UC San Diego, October 5, 2020. 
Vivek Wadhwa, “The Genetic Engineering Genie Is Out of the Bottle, the Next Pandemic Could 
be Bioengineered  in Someone’s Garage Using Cheap and Widely Available  Technology,” Foreign 
Policy, September 11, 2020. 
Sohini Chatterjee and Mark P. Lagon, “The Cataclysmic Great Power Chal enge Everyone Saw 
Coming, Violent  Extremism, Migration, Pandemics, and Climate Change Are Among the 
Burgeoning List of Fundamental Chal enges That Wil   Require Transnational Cooperation and 
Collaboration,” National Interest, August 28, 2020. 
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Edward Alden, “The World Needs to Reopen Borders Before It’s Too Late, Even As They 
Struggle to Control the Pandemic, Governments Should Move Quickly to Reopen Borders 
Instead of Giving in to Xenophobia, Nationalism, and Il usions of Autarky,” Foreign Policy, 
August 25, 2020. 
Daniel W. Drezner, “The Song Remains the Same: International Relations After COVID-19,” 
Cambridge University Press, August 19, 2020. 
Michael R. Kenwick and Beth A. Simmons, “Pandemic Response as Border Politics,” Cambridge 
University Press, August 19, 2020. 
Mohan Malik,  “The Pandemic’s Geopolitical Aftershocks,” Strategist (Australian Strategic 
Policy Institute), August 4, 2020. 
Seth A. Johnston, “The Pandemic and the Limits of Realism, The Foundational International 
Relations Theory Has Been Revealed to Be Far Less Realistic Than It Claims,” Foreign Policy, 
June 24, 2020. 
James Goldgeier and Carmen Iezzi Mezzera, “How to Rethink the Teaching of International 
Relations, As Universities Struggle to Respond to the Ongoing Pandemic, Here’s What They 
Should Focus On,” Foreign Policy, June 12, 2020. 
Stephen M. Walt, “The Pandemic’s 5 Silver Linings, The Coronavirus Has Exacted a Terrible 
Toll—But Some Good Things May Come of It Yet,” Foreign Policy, May 26, 2020. 
Tom McTague, “The Pandemic’s Geopolitical Aftershocks Are Coming, Western Capitals Aren’t 
Just Worried About the Risk of a Resurgence in Coronavirus Cases,” Atlantic, May 18, 2020. 
Stephen M. Walt, “Wil   a Global Depression Trigger Another World War? The Coronavirus 
Pandemic Has Already Devastated the International Economy. Its Military Fal out Remains to Be 
Seen,” Foreign Policy, May 13, 2020. 
Phil ip  Y. Lipscy, “It’s Too Soon to Cal  Coronavirus Winners and Losers, Given how much 
remains unknown about the virus, talk of success may be premature,” Foreign Policy, May 12, 
2020. 
Alan Nicol, “The Pandemic Is Laying Bare a Global Water Crisis, Insufficient Water for Washing 
Is Likely to Worsen the Coronavirus in the Poorest Nations. There’s a Better Way Forward,” 
Foreign Policy, May 12, 2020. 
George H. Nash, “The Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020 in Historical Perspective,” National 
Review, May 11, 2020. 
Edith M. Lederer, “UN Chief Says Pandemic Is Unleashing a ‘Tsunami of Hate,’” Associated 
Press, May 8, 2020. 
Nikolas K. Gvosdev, “Why the Coronavirus Won't Transform International Affairs Like 9/11 
Did,” National Interest, May 5, 2020. 
Deepanshu Mohan, “The Geopolitical  Contours of a Post-COVID-19 World,” East Asia Forum, 
May 2, 2020. 
Andrew Ehrhardt, “Disease and Diplomacy in the 19th Century,” War on the Rocks, April 30, 
2019. 
Resilience in the Face of the Coronavirus Pandemic, World Politics Review report, May 2020, 47 
pp. (Includes essays by various authors with the titles “Planning for the World After the 
Coronavirus Pandemic,” “What It Wil  Take to Save Economies From the Coronavirus 
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Pandemic,” “Building  Trust, Confidence and Collective Action in the Age of COVID-19,” “Why 
Tackling Corruption Is Crucial to the Global Coronavirus Response,” and “The Geography of 
COVID-19 and a Vulnerable  Global Food System.”) 
Iain King, “How Covid-19 Wil   Change Us: Seven Lessons from the Most Consequential 
Pandemics in History,” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), April 29, 2020. 
Dmitri K. Simes, “The Perfect Storm,” National Interest, April 24, 2020. 
Fred Kaplan, “What Happens if Oil Doesn’t Recover? If Demand Doesn’t Pick Up This Summer, 
We Could See Major Shifts in Global Power,” Slate, April 23, 2020. 
Barry R. Posen, “Do Pandemics Promote Peace? Why Sickness Slows the March to War,” 
Foreign Affairs, April 23, 2020. 
Joseph Cirincione, “How to Prevent War During the Coronavirus Pandemic, How Wil  the 
Coronavirus Threaten Global Peace?” National Interest, April  22, 2020. 
Frank Hoffman, “An American Perspective on Post-Pandemic Geopolitics,” RUSI, April 20, 
2020. 
Gordon Bardos, “Wil   the Coronavirus Crisis Force America to Look in the Mirror and Reform?” 
National Interest, April  18, 2020. 
Nicholas Eberstadt, “The “New Normal”: Thoughts about the Shape of Things to Come in the 
Post-Pandemic World,” National Bureau of Asian Research, April 18, 2020. 
Steve Coll,  “Woodrow Wilson’s Case of the Flu, and How Pandemics Change History,” New 
Yorker, April 17, 2020. 
Ravi Kant, “Coronavirus: An Ice-Nine Moment for the World,” Asia Times, April 15, 2020. 
Jackson Diehl, “The Pandemic Is Kil ing Truth, Too,” Washington Post, April 12, 2020. 
Edith M. Lederer, “UN Chief Warns COVID-19 Threatens Global Peace and Security,” 
Associated Press, April  10, 2020. 
Richard Haass, “The Pandemic Wil  Accelerate History Rather Than Reshape It, Not Every Crisis 
Is a Turning Point, Foreign Affairs, April 7, 2020. 
Stratfor Worldview, “How the Coronavirus Pandemic Is Changing the World—and the Future,” 
National Interest, April  4, 2020. 
Daniel W. Drezner, “The Most Counterintuitive Prediction about World Politics and the 
Coronavirus, What If Nothing Changes?” Washington Post, March 30, 2020. 
Ali  Demirdas, “Western Values May Not Survive the Coronavirus. European Unity and American 
Military  Power Just Haven’t Held Up,” National Interest, March 28, 2020. 
John Al en  et al., “How the World Wil   Look after the Coronavirus Pandemic,” Foreign Policy, 
March 20, 2020. (Includes short contributions from 12 authors.) 
Maxine Whittaker, “How Infectious Diseases Have Shaped Our Culture, Habits and Language,” 
The Conversation, July 12, 2017. 
World Order, International Institutions, and Global Governance 
Helen V. Milner, Susan Peterson, Ryan Powers, Michael J. Tierney, and Erik Voeten, “Trump, 
COVID-19, and the Future of International Order, In a New Survey, International Relations 
Experts Are Pessimistic About the Years to Come,” Foreign Policy, October 8, 2020. 
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Seth Center and Emma Bates, editors, After Disruption: Historical Perspectives on the Future of 
International Order, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), September 2020, 65 
pp. 
Hung Tran, “One World, Two Systems” Takes Shape During the Pandemic, Atlantic Council, 
September 2020, 10 pp. 
Brett D. Schaefer and Daniel e Pletka, “How the WHO Can Earn Back U.S. Support,” Heritage 
Foundation, August 17, 2020. 
Bobo Lo, “Global Order in the Shadow of the Coronavirus: China, Russia and the West, It’s Time 
to Rethink Global Governance and its Priorities,” Lowy Institute, July 29, 2020. 
Robert D. Blackwil  Thomas Wright, “Why COVID-19 Presents a World Reordering Moment,” 
National Interest, July 11, 2020. 
Jeffrey Cimmino et al., A Global Strategy for Shaping the Post-COVID-19 World, Atlantic 
Council, 2020 (released July 7, 2020), 52 pp. 
Mary Robinson, “Multilateralism  Offers Hope for a Sea-Change after COVID-19,” The Hill, June 
26, 2020. 
Aparna Pande, “India Could Emerge as the Global Power the World Has Been Waiting for After 
COVID,” Hudson Institute, June 8, 2020. 
James Crabtree, “Welcome to a World of Bubbles, Countries Across Europe and Asia Are 
Exploring Special Bilateral  Arrangements to Ease Border Restrictions. The Result Could Be a 
Globe Fractured Along Epidemiological  Lines,” Foreign Policy, June 1, 2020. 
Jeffrey Cimmino, Matthew Kroenig, and Barry Pavel, Taking Stock: Where Are Geopolitics 
Headed in the COVID-19 Era? Atlantic Council, June 2020, 20 pp. 
Samuel Brannen and Kathleen H. Hicks, “World Order after Covid-19,” Center for Strategic and 
International Studies (CSIS), May 28, 2020. 
G. John Ikenberry and Charles A. Kupchan, “Global Distancing, Past Crises Spurred International 
Cooperation. Now Each Country Is Going It Alone,” Washington Post, May 21, 2020. 
Edward Lucas, “Pandemic Scorecard, Covid-19 Is Breaking and Shaping Reputations,” Center 
for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), May 18, 2020. 
Nick Wadhams, “Pandemic Shatters World Order, Sowing Anger and Mistrust in Its Wake,” 
Bloomberg, May 17, 2020. 
Thomas R. Pickering and Atman M. Trivedi, “The International Order Didn’t Fail the Pandemic 
Alone, The United States and China Are Its Crucial Pil ars,” Foreign Affairs, May 14, 2020. 
Damien Cave and Isabel a Kwai, “China Is Defensive. The U.S. Is Absent. Can the Rest of the 
World Fil   the Void?” New York Times, May 11, 2020. 
Edward Fishman, “The World Order Is Dead. Here’s How to Build a New One for a Post-
Coronavirus Era,” Politico, May 3, 2020. 
Rebecca Wolfe and Hilary Matfess Sunday, “COVID and Cooperation: The Latest Canary in the 
Coal Mine,” Lawfare, May 3, 2020. 
Joshua Keating, “The Decline of the Nation-State, Trump’s War with the Governors Hints at a 
New Political Order,” Foreign Policy, April 29, 2020. 
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Yukon Huang and Jeremy Smith, “Pandemic Response Reflects Unlearned Lessons of U.S.-China 
Trade War,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, April 27, 2020. 
Mihir Sharma, “Diplomacy Is Another Victim of the Virus,” Bloomberg, April  26, 2020. 
Brahma Chel aney, “The WHO Has Failed the World in its Pandemic Response,” Strategist 
(Australian Strategic Policy Institute), April 23, 2020. 
Wil iam  C. Danvers, “The World Bank steps up its role in fighting for the future,” The Hill, April 
22, 2020. 
Eric A. Posner, “The Limits of the World Health Organization,” Lawfare, April  21, 2020. 
Amitav Acharya, “How Coronavirus May Reshape the World Order,” National Interest, April 18, 
2020. 
Joseph S. Nye Jr., “No, the Coronavirus Wil  Not Change the Global Order,” Foreign Policy, 
April 16, 2020. 
Karen DeYoung and Liz Sly, “Global Institutions Are Flailing  in the Face of the Pandemic,” 
Washington Post, April 15, 2020. 
Colin H. Kahl and Ariana Berengaut, “Aftershocks: The Coronavirus Pandemic and the New 
World Disorder,” War on the Rocks, April  10, 2020. 
Lanhee J. Chen, “Lost in Beijing:  The Story of the WHO, China Broke the World Health 
Organization. The U.S. Has to Fix It or Leave and Start Its Own Group,” Wall Street Journal, 
April 8, 2020. 
Colum Lynch, “Can the United Nations Survive the Coronavirus? In the Absence of U.S. 
Leadership, the U.N. Is Struggling to Carve Out a Role in the Face of What May Be the Greatest 
Threat Since Its Founding,” Foreign Policy, April 8, 2020. 
Timofey V. Bordachev, “Visions Of The Post-Coronavirus World: Russian Expert On Europe 
Bordachev: The Liberal World Order Wil  Not Survive,” MEMRI, April 6, 2020. 
Matthew Lee and Edith M. Lederer, “Global Diplomacy Under the Gun in The Time of 
Ccoronavirus,” Associated Press, April  4, 2020. 
Thomas Wright, “Stretching the International Order to Its Breaking Point, The Greatest Error 
That Geopolitical Analysts Can Make May Be Believing  That the Crisis Wil   Be Over in Three to 
Four Months,” Atlantic, April 4, 2020. 
Henry A. Kissinger, “The Coronavirus Pandemic Wil  Forever Alter the World Order,” Wall Street 
Journal, April 3, 2020. 
Ryan Broderick, “After The Coronavirus Passes, Your World Wil  Not Go Back To Normal, 
Before the Pandemic Began, the Systems That Govern Our World Were Brittle. Today, They Are 
Broken. When We Emerge, the World Wil  Be Different, and So Wil  We,” Buzzfeed News, April 
2, 2020. 
Rick Gladstone, “U.N. Security Council ‘Missing In Action’ in Coronavirus Fight,” New York 
Times, April  2, 2020. 
Ian Goldin and Robert Muggah, “End of International Cooperation? How Coronavirus Has 
Changed the World Permanently,” National Interest, March 31, 2020. 
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U.S. Global Leadership and Role in World 
Gregory B. Poling, “Embracing a Pandemic-Centered Foreign Policy,” Center for Strategic and 
International Studies (CSIS), March 1, 2021. 
Colm Quinn, “G-7 Scrambles for Global Vaccine Plan, After Months of Warnings, the Group of 
Wealthy Nations Has Begun to Put Forward Solutions to the Lopsided Distribution of 
Coronavirus Vaccines,” Foreign Policy, February 19, 2021. 
Emily Rauhala, Erin Cunningham, and Adam Taylor, “White House Announces $4 Bil ion  in 
Funding for Covax, the Global Vaccine Effort that Trump Spurned,” Washington Post, February 
18, 2021. 
by Jan Tore Sanner, “Why the Rich World Cannot Afford to Leave the Poor Behind  on Vaccines,” 
Thomson Reuters Foundation News, February 15, 2021. 
Alex Leary, “Biden  to Join G-7 Leaders in Virtual Meeting to Discuss Pandemic Response,” Wall 
Street Journal, February 14, 2021. 
Ethan Guil én, “End the Pandemic Faster by Listening to Developing Countries, Biden Has a 
Golden Opportunity to Help with Global Vaccines,” Foreign Policy, February 8, 2021. 
Jonathan Tepperman, “The Global Vaccine Rollout Is Failing—and That Puts Everyone, 
Everywhere, In Danger, The Selfish Reasons the United States and Europe Must Help Poor 
Countries Deal with COVID-19,” Foreign Policy, January 28, 2021. 
White House, “National Security Directive on United States Global Leadership to Strengthen the 
International COVID-19 Response and to Advance Global Health Security and Biological 
Preparedness,” National Security Directive 1, White House, January 21, 2021. 
Kenneth C. Bril ,  “COVID-19 Vaccine Lessons for American Diplomacy after Trump,” The Hill, 
January 14, 2021. 
Wil iam  Inboden, “The World That COVID Made: What Should American Foreign Policy Do? 
The Pandemic Reminds Us that ‘American Leadership’ Is Not a Trite Euphemism. It Is Arguably 
the Single Most Important Factor in Whether the Arc of History Bends Toward Something Better 
or Something Worse,” Government Executive, December 29, 2021. 
Catherine Kim, “Koreans Believed America Was Exceptional. Then Covid Happened,” Politico, 
December 2, 2020. 
Ryan Berg and Al ison  Schwartz, “Latin America Needs Our Assistance on Coronavirus Vaccine 
Distribution,” The Hill, November 18, 2020. 
James Palmer, “Why the United States Can’t Defeat the Coronavirus, For Too Many Americans, 
Disasters Are Things That Happen to Other People, Never Themselves,” Foreign Policy, 
November 18, 2020. 
Devi Sridhar, “Biden Can Make the United States a Global Health  Leader Again. Trump 
Withdrew from the Who. Biden Can Rebuild Ties with the Organization and Make the United 
States an Influential Player in the Fight Against COVID-19,” Foreign Policy, November 7, 2020. 
Christopher Mott, “The Death of Exceptionalism and the Birth of a New Foreign Policy,” 
National Interest, November 1, 2020. 
Tom Al ard,  “Vaccines, Not Spy Planes: U.S. Misfires in Southeast Asia,” Reuters, October 27, 
2020. 
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BBC  News, “Global Perception of US Fal s to Two-Decade Low,” BBC News, September 15, 
2020. 
Adam Taylor, “Global Views of U.S. Plunge to New Lows amid Pandemic, Poll Finds,” 
Washington Post, September 15, 2020. 
Richard Wike, Janel  Fetterolf, and Mara Mordecai, “U.S. Image Plummets International y as 
Most Say Country Has Handled Coronavirus Badly,” Pew Research Center, September 15, 2020. 
Wil iam  J. Burns, “A New U.S. Foreign Policy for the Post-Pandemic Landscape, As the Global 
Order Crumbles, the United States Must Reinvent Its Role in the World,” Carnegie Endowment 
for International Peace, September 9, 2020. 
Editorial  Board, “Trump’s Refusal to Join a Global Vaccine Effort Epitomizes an America That’s 
Isolated and Weak,” Washington Post, September 2, 2020. 
El iot  Hannon, “The Trump Administration Refuses to Participate in Global Coronavirus Vaccine 
Effort,” Slate, September 2, 2020. 
Scott Neuman, “U.S. Won't Join WHO-Led Coronavirus Vaccine Effort, White House Says,” 
NPR, September 2, 2020. 
Emily Rauhala and Yasmeen Abutaleb, “U.S. Says It Won’t Join WHO-Linked Effort to Develop, 
Distribute Coronavirus Vaccine,” Washington Post, September 1, 2020. 
Karla Zabludovsky, Nishita Jha, and Christopher Mil er, “These Countries Have The Highest 
COVID-19 Infection Rates. This Is What The US Has In Common With Them, ‘The US Is No 
Longer An Example for Other Countries to Follow.,’” BuzzFeed, August 22, 2020. 
Nicole Winfield  and Lisa Marie Pane, “US Tops 5 Mil ion  Confirmed Virus Cases, to Europe’s 
Alarm,” Associated Press, August 9, 2020. 
Brett D. Schaefer and Daniel e Pletka, What the World Health Organization Must Do to Earn 
Back U.S. Support, Heritage Foundation, August 7, 2020, 7 pp. 
Wade Davis, “The Unraveling  of America, Anthropologist Wade Davis on How COVID-19 
Signals the End of the American Era,” Rolling Stone, August 6, 2020. 
Colby Smith, Eva Szalay, and Katie Martin, “Dollar  Blues: Why the Pandemic Is Testing 
Confidence in the US Currency,” Financial Times, July 31, 2020. 
Christopher Smart, “To Avoid a Coronavirus Depression, the U.S. Can’t Afford to Alienate the 
World,” Foreign Policy, July 28, 2020. 
Dan Balz,  “America’s Global Standing Is at a Low Point. The Pandemic Made It Worse. Under 
Trump, the United States Retreats from Collaborative Leadership at a Time of Global Crisis,” 
Washington Post, July 26, 2020. 
Michael H. Fuchs, “A Foreign Policy for the Post-Pandemic World, How to Prepare for the Next 
Crisis,” Foreign Affairs, July 23, 2020. 
Stephen M. Walt, “How to Ruin a Superpower, Washington’s Status as a Superpower Has Been 
Declining for Years. Trump’s Handling of the Pandemic Is Kil ing  It Off,” Foreign Policy, July 
23, 2020. 
Jon B. Alterman, “Covid-19, the Iranians, and Us,” Center for Strategic and International Studies 
(CSIS), July 21, 2020. 
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China’s Potential Role as a Global Leader 
Huizhong Wu and Kristen Gelineau, “Chinese Vaccines Sweep Much of the World, Despite 
Concerns,” Associated Press, March 2, 2021. 
Laura Pitel,  “Turkey’s Uighurs Fear Betrayal over Chinese Vaccines and Trade, Erdogan Accused 
of Toning down Rhetoric about Oppressed Muslims to Avoid Upsetting Beijing,”  Financial 
Times, February 24, 2021. 
Mordechai Chaziza, “Chinese Health Diplomacy and the Maghreb in the COVID-19 Era,” Middle 
East Institute, February 23, 2021. 
Yang Lizhong and Chen Dingding, “Is China’s COVID-19 Diplomacy Working in Southeast 
Asia? A Recent Poll Suggests a Mixed Picture for China,” Diplomat, February 20, 2021. 
Jason Hung, “In China’s ‘Vaccine Diplomacy’ with the Philippines, Both Sides Are Taking Big 
Risks,” East-West Center, February 19, 2021. 
Lucien O. Chauvin, Anthony Faiola, and Eva Dou, “Squeezed Out of the Race for Western 
Vaccines, Developing Countries Turn to China,” Washington Post, February 16, 2021. 
Erika Kinetz, “Anatomy of a Conspiracy: With COVID, China Took leading Role,” Associated 
Press, February 15, 2021. 
Alex Leary, “U.S. Expresses ‘Deep Concerns’ Over China Withholding Data From Pandemic 
Investigators,” Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2021. 
Javier C. Hernández and James Gorman, “On W.H.O. Trip, China Refused to Hand Over 
Important Data,” New York Times, February 12, 2021. 
Sui-Lee Wee, “China Wanted to Show Off Its Vaccines. It’s Backfiring. Delays, Inconsistent 
Data, Spotty Disclosures and the Country’s Attacks on Western Rivals Have Marred Its 
Ambitious Effort to Portray Itself as a Leader in Global Health,” New York Times, January 25, 
2021. 
Huizhong Wu, “China Pushes Conspiracy Theories on COVID Origin, Vaccines,” Associated 
Press, January 25, 2021. 
Li Yuan, “How Beijing  Turned China’s Covid-19 Tragedy to Its Advantage, The Communist 
Party’s Success in Reclaiming the Narrative Has Proved to the World Its Ability  to Ral y the 
People to Its Side, No Matter How Stumbling Its Actions Might Be,” New York Times, January 22 
(updated January 24), 2021. 
Agence France-Presse, “Philippines Says China to Donate Half a Mil ion  Covid-19 Vaccines,” 
Yahoo News, January 16, 2021. 
Sui-Lee Wee and Ernesto Londoño, “Disappointing Chinese Vaccine Results Pose Setback for 
Developing World,” New York Times, January 13 (updated January 15), 2021. 
Amy Qin and Javier C. Hernández, “A Year After Wuhan, China Tel s a Tale of Triumph (and No 
Mistakes), The Chinese Communist Party’s Efforts to Hide Its Missteps Have Taken on New 
Urgency as the Anniversary of the World’s First Covid-19 Lockdown Nears,” New York Times, 
January 10 (updated January 14), 2021. 
Alice Han and Eyck Freymann, “Coronavirus Hasn’t Kil ed Belt and Road, As the Pandemic 
Rages, China’s Strategy Is Becoming More High-Tech And Sophisticated,” Foreign Policy, 
January 6, 2021. 
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Emily Rauhala and Lily Kuo, “Politics Frustrate WHO Mission to Search for Origins of 
Coronavirus in China,” Washington Post, January 6, 2021. 
Craig Singleton, “Confronting China’s COVID Con,” The Hill, January 5, 2021. 
Hanns Günther Hilpert and Angela Stanzel, China—Winning the Pandemic… for Now, The 
People’s Republic Is Exuding Strength, but Can They Keep It Up? Stiftung Wissenschaft und 
Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs), SWP Comment No. 1, January 
2021, 4 pp. 
Danson Cheong, “China’s Vaccine Diplomacy Not as Simple as Shot in the Arm,” Straits Times, 
December 28, 2020. 
Iain Marlow, Faseeh Mangi, and Kari Soo Lindberg, “China Is Struggling to Get the World to 
Trust Its Vaccines, What Should Have Been a Big Covid Win for Beijing  in Building  Ties is 
Revealing Widespread Mistrust in China’s Products,” Bloomberg, December 28, 2020. 
Raymond Zhong, Paul Mozur, Jeff Kao, and Aaron Krolik, “No ‘Negative’ News: How China 
Censored the Coronavirus,” New York Times, December 19, 2020. 
CK Tan, “China Forges on with Vaccine Diplomacy amid Pfizer Fanfare,” Nikkei Asia, December 
17, 2020. 
Chris Buckley, “China’s Combative Nationalists See a World Turning Their Way, China’s 
Communist Party Is Pushing the Narrative that the Pandemic Has Proved the Superiority of Its 
Authoritarian Model. The Muscular Message Is Finding Fans at Home,” New York Times, 
December 14, 2020. 
Alex Vines, “China’s Southern Africa Debt Deals Reveal a Wider Plan,” Chatham House, 
December 10, 2020. 
Gordon G. Chang, “China Deliberately  Spread The Coronavirus: What Are The Strategic 
Consequences?” Hoover Institution, December 9, 2020. 
Robert G. Kaufman, “Wil   The Covid-19 Pandemic Confound Or Enable China’s Strategic 
Ambitions?” Hooever Institution, December 9, 2020. 
Sha Hua, “China Floats Covid-19 Theories That Point to Foreign Origins, Frozen Food,” New 
York Times, December 8, 2020. 
T.S. Al en, “China’s Pandemic Public Opinion Warfare Alienates Global Audiences,” China Brief, 
December 6, 2020. 
Javier C. Hernández, “China Peddles Falsehoods to Obscure Origin of Covid Pandemic,” New 
York Times, December 6 (updated December 14), 2020. 
Amy Hawkins and James Thorpe “Don’t Count on China’s Help With a Coronavirus Inquiry, 
Beijing’s  COVID-19 Response Has Been a Success Story, and the Communist Party Wants to 
Keep It That Way,” Foreign Policy, December 3, 2020. 
David Culver and Nectar Gan, “China Has Promised Mil ions  of Coronavirus Vaccines to 
Countries Global y. And It Is Ready to Deliver Them,” CNN, December 2, 2020. 
Carol Rosenberg, “China Poised to Be First to Distribute Virus Vaccine in Latin America, U.S. 
Official Says,” New York Times, December 2 (updated December 14), 2020. 
Shannon Tiezzi, “China Continues Its COVID-19 Diplomacy in the Pacific, China Held  a Second 
‘Special Meeting On Covid-19’ with Pacific Island Countries,” Diplomat, December 1, 2020. 
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U.S. Relations and Great Power Competition with China 
and Russia 
Yomiuri Shimbun, “Quad to Create Framework for Providing Vaccines to Developing Countries,” 
Japan News, March 10, 2021. 
Henry Foy, “Covid Vaccine Diplomacy Is a Dilemma for Foreign Embassies in Russia, Sputnik V 
Is One of the Most Effective Jabs but the UK And US Are Flying in Their Own Supplies,” 
Financial Times, March 9, 2021. 
Prabhjote Gil , “India Is Asking the QUAD for Money to Boost Vaccine Production and Counter 
China’s Moves on the Global Stage,” Business Insider India, March 9, 2021. 
Deirdre Shesgreen, “‘Russia Is Up to Its Old Tricks’: Biden Battling  COVID-19 Vaccine 
Disinformation Campaign,” USA Today, March 8, 2021. 
Nikolas K. Gvosdev and Ray Takeyh, “Who Came Out On Top from the 2020 Coronavirus Year? 
Predictions that Russia or China Would Take the Lead in the Fight against the Pandemic Have 
Not Panned Out. Instead, Countries Around the World Are Clamoring for Forging New Trade, 
Technological, and Health Al iances  with the United States,” National Interest, March 7, 2021. 
Parag Khanna, “The New ‘End of History,’ If There Is a Political System that Has Emerged 
Victorious from the Coronavirus Pandemic, It Is Asian Democratic Technocracy,” National 
Interest, March 6, 2021. 
Lil ian  Posner, “The Controversy Behind Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine,” National Interest, March 
6, 2021. 
Josh Rogin, “How Covid Hastened the Decline and Fal  of the U.S.-China Relationship,” 
Washington Post, March 4, 2021. 
Krishna N. Das, “Chinese Hackers Target Indian Vaccine Makers SII, Bharat Biotech, Says 
Security Firm,” Reuters, March 1, 2021. 
Ryan Dube and Luciana Magalhaes, “For Covid-19 Vaccines, Latin America Turns to China and 
Russia, Western-Made Shots Are Scarce, and Beijing and Moscow Are Stepping in to Fil   the 
Vacuum,” Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2021. 
Josef Federman, “In Israel and Beyond, Virus Vaccines Bring Political Power,” Associated Press, 
February 22, 2021. 
Frida Ghitis, “The Russians and the Chinese Are Touting Their Vaccines. Should We Trust 
Them?” Washington Post, February 22, 2021. 
Joe Parkinson, Chao Deng, and Liza Lin, “China Deploys Covid-19 Vaccine to Build  Influence, 
With U.S. on Sidelines, Beijing  Is Assembling a Chain of Airplanes, Warehouses and Trucks to 
Deliver Refrigerated Doses to the Developing World,” Wall Street Journal, February 21, 2021. 
Christopher Tan, “South Asia’s Vaccine Geopolitics, How Vaccine Access Puts Nepal in the 
Crosshairs between China and India,” Nepali Times, February 21, 2021. 
Helen Collis  and Carlo Martuscel i, “Russia’s ‘geopolitical’ vaccine: Is Sputnik too good to be 
true? The Homegrown Shot Gives Moscow the Opportunity to Inject Itself into European 
Politics,” Politico, February 17, 2021. 
Sam Meredith, “As Russia and China Seek to Boost Their Global Influence, Analysts Warn 
Vaccine Diplomacy Is Here to Stay,” CNBC, February 17, 2021. 
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Aaron Feis, “Inside China’s Propaganda Efforts to Pin COVID-19 on the US,” New York Post, 
February 15, 2021. 
Bojan Pancevski, “China’s Covid-19 Vaccine Diplomacy Boosts Its Influence in Europe,” Wall 
Street Journal, February 13, 2021. 
Mujib Mashal and Vivian  Yee, “The Newest Diplomatic Currency: Covid-19 Vaccines, India, 
China, the U.A.E. and Others Dole out Donations in Countries Where They Seek Sway. In Some 
Cases, They Are Sending Doses Despite Pressing Needs at Home,” New York Times, February 11, 
2021. 
Hiddai  Segev and Galia Lavi, The Vaccine Race: China Expands its Global Influence, Institute 
for National Security Studies (INSS), Tel Aviv University, INSS Insight No. 1438, February 11, 
2021, 5 pp. 
David M. Herszenhorn, “Ukrainian PM: Russia Using COVID Vaccine for Influence,” Politico, 
February 10, 2021. 
Daniel Milo,  “The Deadly Effects of Disinformation, Russian COVID Disinformation Operation 
Has Been Tragical y Successful, at Both Undermining the West and in Spreading Lies That Have 
Cost Lives,” Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), February 8, 2021. 
Amitav Acharya, “Wil   the Pandemic Polarize Asia? America Could Benefit from a Loss of Trust 
in China, Writes Amitav Acharya,” Chatham House, February 5, 2021. 
Loveday Morris, “As Europe’s Vaccination Efforts Falter, Russia and China Are Now Seen as 
Options,” Washington Post, February 5, 2021. 
Catherine Osborn, “Sputnik V Takes Off in Latin America, How Argentina Helped  Open the 
Region for the Russian Vaccine,” Foreign Policy, February 5, 2021. 
Yasmeen Serhan, “Joe Biden’s ‘America First’ Vaccine Strategy, Although the New 
Administration Has Reversed Many of the Isolationist Policies of Its Predecessor, the United 
States’ Commitment to Its Own Vaccine Procurement Remains Unchanged,” Atlantic, February 4, 
2021. 
Adam Taylor, “Stuck Between the Pandemic and Politics, Some Countries Ban Rivals’ Vaccines,” 
Washington Post, February 3, 2021. 
Roderick Bailey,  “Vaccine Nationalism: When Countries Act Selfishly, Everyone Loses, Tensions 
Have Already Risen between the EU, UK and AstraZeneca over a Shortfal  in Vaccine 
Production. In Any Situation Where Supplies Are Scarce and Demand Rises, It Is Poorer 
Countries that Wil   Suffer Most,” National Interest, February 2, 2021. 
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “Vaccine Nationalism Harms Everyone and Protects No One, The 
World Health  Organization’s Chief Argues that Hoarding Vaccines Isn’t Just Immoral—Its 
Medical y Self-Defeating,” Foreign Policy, February 2, 2021. 
Georgi Kantchev, “Russian Covid-19 Vaccine Was Highly Effective in Trial, Boosting Moscow’s 
Rollout Ambitions, Sputnik V Shot Achieved 91.6% Efficacy in Preventing Coronavirus 
Symptoms, Handing the Country a Geopolitical Coup,” Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2021. 
Edoardo Campanel a,  “Reopening Haves, and Have Nots, The Path to Economic Normalization 
Wil   Be Hardest for the Countries and Sectors Least Prepared for Prolonged Pain,” Foreign 
Policy, February 1, 2021. 
Derek Scissors, Dan Blumenthal, and Linda Zhang, The US-China Global Vaccine Competition, 
American Enterprise Institute, February 2021, 8 pp. 
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Peter Harris, “To Protect US Health after COVID, Scrap Trump’s Hawkish, Self-Defeating 
Approach to China,” USA Today, January 29, 2021. 
Aparna Pande, “India’s COVID Diplomacy: Trying to Wean Neighbors off China?” Hudson 
Institute, January 28, 2021. 
Jil  Disis, “China Is Rehearsing for When It Overtakes America,” CNN Business, January 26, 
2021. 
Chris Giles, “IMF Expects US and China to Recover Most Strongly from Virus Economic Hit, 
Fund Predicts that Europe and Emerging Markets Wil  Be Lagging Behind  in 2022,” Financial 
Times, January 26, 2021. 
Luke Hunt, “China’s ‘Vaccine Diplomacy’ Leaves its Mark on ASEAN, Most Southeast Asian 
Governments Are Looking to China for Help in Combating COVID-19,” Diplomat, January 22, 
2021. 
Ken Moritsugu, “Analysis: Biden  Faces a More Confident China after US Chaos,” Associated 
Press, January 20, 2021. 
Gerry Shih, “China Turbocharges Bid to Discredit Western Vaccines, Spread Virus Conspiracy 
Theories,” Washington Post, January 20, 2021. 
Stephen Fidler, “Covid-19 Heightens U.S.-China Rivalry, New Report Says, The World 
Economic Forum Report Says the Pandemic Risks Widening Income Disparities World-Wide,” 
Wall Street Journal, January 19, 2021. 
John Garrick and Yan Bennett, “How China is Controlling the COVID Origins Narrative by 
Force,” National Interest, January 19, 2021. 
Jonathan Cheng, “China Stil   Grew and Fueled Its Rise as Covid-19 Shook the Global Economy, 
GDP Rose 2.3% Last Year, Making China the Only Major World Economy to Record Gains,” 
Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2021. 
Gerry Shih, “China’s Economy Is Growing Faster Now than Before the Coronavirus Pandemic,” 
Washington Post, January 18, 2021. 
Bil   Priestap and Holden Triplett, “The Coronavirus Games: A Geopolitical Spy Story,” Lawfare, 
January 13, 2021. 
Patrick Mendis and Joey Wang, “China Is Touting Its Totalitarianism Taming of the Coronavirus 
Over U.S. Democratic Failure, The Chinese Communist Party May Be Demonstrating a Superior 
and Lasting Form of Governance over the Evolving American Model,” National Interest, January 
10, 2021. 
Steven A. Cook, “America’s Vaccine Diplomacy Is AWOL in the Middle East,China and Russia 
Are Spreading Their Vaccines—And Forging New Ties—to Some of Washington’s Closest 
Al ies,”  Foreign Policy, January 8, 2021. 
Joel Gehrke, “‘Blackmailing’:  Duterte Threatens to Scrap Military Pact With US to Get 
Coronavirus Vaccine,” Washington Examiner, January 6, 2021. 
Dean Jackson, ed., COVID-19 and the Information Space, Boosting the Democratic Response, 
National Endowment for Democracy, January 2021, 51 pp. 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Autocracy 
Elian Peltier,  “Laws Used to Fight Pandemic Are in Some Cases Weakening Democracies, Report 
Says,” New York Times, March 9, 2021. 
Parag Khanna, “The New ‘End of History,’ If There Is a Political System that Has Emerged 
Victorious from the Coronavirus Pandemic, It Is Asian Democratic Technocracy,” National 
Interest, March 6, 2021. 
Economist, “Global Democracy Has a Very Bad Year, The Pandemic Caused an Unprecedented 
Rollback of Democratic Freedoms in 2020,” Economist, February 2, 2021. 
Joshua Keating, “The Pandemic Threatened Global Democracy. Instead, It’s Strengthened It. 
Many, Including Me, Predicted Widespread Democratic Collapse. But There’s Cause for Hope,” 
Slate, October 30, 2020. 
Christopher Johnson, “Can the United Nations Protect Human Rights in the Age of COVID-19?” 
Thomson Reuters Foundation News, October 23, 2020. 
Adam Taylor, “Democracies Are Backsliding Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic,” Washington 
Post, October 2, 2020. 
Sarah Repucci and Amy Slipowitz, Democracy under Lockdown, The Impact of COVID-19 on the 
Global Struggle for Freedom, Freedom House, October 2020, 17 pp. 
Travis L. Adkins and Jeffrey Smith, “Wil  COVID-19 Kil   Democracy? In Tanzania and 
Elsewhere, the Pandemic and Creeping Authoritarianism Are Colliding,  Making Both Problems 
Far Worse,” Foreign Policy, September 18, 2020. 
Timothy Mclaughlin, “Where the Pandemic Is Cover for Authoritarianism, In Hong Kong and 
Around the World, Public-Health Concerns Are Being Used to Excuse Extraordinary Overreach,” 
Atlantic, August 25, 2020. 
Yasmeen Serhan, “The Pandemic Isn’t a Death Knel  for Populism, Just Because Populist Leaders 
Haven’t Fared Wel  Against the Coronavirus Doesn’t Mean Their Opponents Should Count Them 
Out,” Atlantic, August 22, 2020. 
David Stasavage, “Democracy, Autocracy, and Emergency Threats: Lessons for COVID-19 From 
the Last Thousand Years,” Cambridge University Press, August 19, 2020. 
Anatoly Kurmanaev, “Latin America Is Facing a ‘Decline of Democracy’ Under the Pandemic,” 
New York Times, July 29, 2020. 
Roudabeh Kishi,  “How the Coronavirus Crisis Is Silencing Dissent and Sparking Repression,” 
Foreign Policy, July 21, 2020. 
Matt Warner and Tom G. Palmer, “The Pandemic Could Be the Crisis Liberalism Needed, The 
Future Has Rarely Seemed Bleaker for Free-Market Democracy—But Smal  Changes Can Bring 
It Roaring Back,” Foreign Policy, July 13, 2020. 
Kapil  Komireddi, “The Coronavirus Is Hastening Modi’s Transformation of India, New Delhi Is 
Invoking the Pandemic to Accelerate Its Suppression of the Press,” Foreign Policy, July 6, 2020. 
Jon Lee Anderson, “Populists Inflame the Coronavirus Outbreak Across Latin America,” New 
Yorker, July 2, 2020. 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
James Traub, “The Pandemic Is the World’s Long Overdue Reality Check, Populists Came to 
Power Peddling Political Fantasies—But the Coronavirus Has Broken the Fever,” Foreign Policy, 
July 1, 2020. 
Nyshka Chandran, “The Pandemic Has Given Armies in Southeast Asia a Boost, In Indonesia and 
the Philippines, Military Leaders Are Managing the Coronavirus Response—with Lasting 
Political Repercussions,” Foreign Policy, June 15, 2020. 
Larry Diamond, “Democracy Versus the Pandemic, The Coronavirus Is Emboldening Autocrats 
the World Over,” Foreign Affairs, June 13, 2020. 
Robin Niblett and Leslie Vinjamuri, “Op-Ed: Why Democracies Do Better at Surviving 
Pandemics,” Los Angeles Times, May 26, 2020. 
Justin Sherman, “War Rhetoric Surrounds COVID Surveil ance,” C4ISRnet, May 22, 2020. 
Mu Sochua, “Coronavirus ‘Fake News’ Arrests Are Quieting Critics, In Southeast Asia, the 
Coronavirus Pandemic Has Provided a Handy Excuse for a Clampdown on Free Speech,” 
Foreign Policy, May 22, 2020. 
Jacob Wal ace and Darcy Palder, “The Coronavirus Is Delaying Elections Worldwide, Moldova 
and Oman Join a Growing List of Countries Postponing Their Votes for the Sake of Public 
Health,” Foreign Policy, May 22, 2020. 
Holman W. Jenkins Jr., “Coronavirus and Policy Chaos, Western Rights and Freedoms Now 
Prove a Strength in Adapting to the Pandemic,” Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2020. 
Josh Nadeau, “Putin Is Using the Pandemic to Consolidate Power, Public Health Is a Convenient 
Pretext for Extending Authoritarian Controls,” Foreign Policy, May 18, 2020. 
Margaret Tucker, “Symptoms May Include Censorship,” Slate, May 15, 2020. 
Joanna Kakissis, “European Parliament Lawmakers Demand Punishment For Hungary Over 
Emergency Powers,” NPR, May 14, 2020. 
Stuart Wil iams, Agence France-Presse, “For Europe’s Strongmen, Pandemic Is Opportunity and 
Risk,” Yahoo News, May 14, 2020. 
Steven Feldstein, “What Democracy Wil  Fal  Next? Hungary Was the First Democratic Victim of 
the Coronavirus. It May Not Be the Last,” Foreign Policy, May 7, 2020. 
Kemal Kirisci, “The Coronavirus Has Led to More Authoritarianism for Turkey,” National 
Interest, May 6, 2020.  
Febriana Firdaus. “Indonesians Fear Democracy Is the Next Pandemic Victim,” Foreign Policy, 
May 4, 2020. 
Margarita R. Seminario and Claudia Fernandez, “Free Press, Fake News, and Repression during 
Covid-19: Venezuela, Brazil,  and Nicaragua,” Center for Strategic and International Studies 
(CSIS), May 4, 2020. 
Jeffrey Smith and Nic Cheeseman, “Authoritarians Are Exploiting the Coronavirus. Democracies 
Must Not Follow Suit,” Foreign Policy, April 28, 2020. 
Alexander  Cooley and Daniel  Nexon, “Why Populists Want a Multipolar World, Aspiring 
Authoritarians Are Sick of the Liberal Order and Eager for New Patrons in Russia and China,” 
National Interest, April 25, 2020. 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Anthony B. Kim, “COVID-19 Pandemic Underscores Nexus of Economic Freedom, Freedom of 
Press,” Heritage Foundation, April 20, 2020. 
Editorial  Board, “How China’s Authoritarian System Made the Pandemic Worse,” Washington 
Post, April 17, 2020. 
Andrea Kendal -Taylor and Carisa Nietsche, “The Coronavirus Is Exposing Populists’ Hollow 
Politics, As the Crisis Worsens, Even More Extreme Groups May Prosper,” Foreign Policy, April 
16, 2020. 
Societal Tension, Reform, and Transformation, and 
Governmental Stability 
Paolo Gerbaudo, “Big Government Is Back, The Pandemic Has Discredited Decades of Free 
Market Orthodoxy—But Not Al   Visions of State Interventionism Are Progressive,” Foreign 
Policy, February 13, 2021. 
Emeline  Wuilbercq, “Pandemic Woes Seen Swel ing Global Ranks of Child Soldiers,” Thomson 
Reuters Foundation News, February 12, 2021. 
Alexander Vil egas,  Anthony Faiola, and Lesley Wroughton, “As Spending Climbs and Revenue 
Fal s, the Coronavirus Forces a Global Reckoning, A Rising ‘Debt Tsunami’ Threatens Even 
Stable, Peaceful Middle-Income Countries,” Washington Post, January 10, 2021. 
Edoardo Campanel a, “The Pandemic Remade the Chinese Economy, Other Countries Should 
Prepare Now for Their Own Reformations,” Foreign Policy, January 4, 2021. 
Jarrett Blanc, Frances Z. Brown, and Benjamin Press, “Conflict Zones in the Time of 
Coronavirus: War and War by Other Means,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 
December 17, 2020. 
Joaquín Cottani, The Effects of Covid-19 on Latin America’s Economy, Center for Strategic and 
International Studies (CSIS), November 2020, 9 pp. 
Tomasz Mickiewicz, Jun Du, and Oleksandr Shepotylo, “Coronavirus: Individualistic Societies 
Might Be Doing Worse, the Individualism Hypothesis Is Worth Investigating Further,” National 
Interest, October 14, 2020. 
Clare Duffy, “The Pandemic Could Push 150 Mil ion More People Worldwide into ‘Extreme 
Poverty,’” CNN Business, October 7, 2020. 
Abhishek Mishra, “Africa and COVID19: Impact, Response, and Chal enges to Recovery,” 
Observer Research Foundation, September 2020 (posted September 28, 2020), 46 pp. 
Peter S. Goodman, Abdi Latif Dahir and Karan Deep Singh, “The Other Way Covid Wil   Kil : 
Hunger Worldwide, the Population Facing Life-Threatening Levels of Food Insecurity Is 
Expected to Double, to More Than a Quarter of a Bil ion  People,” New York Times, September 11 
(updated September 14), 2020. 
Kristalina  Georgieva and Gita Gopinath, “Emerging Stronger From the Great Lockdown, The 
Managing Director and the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund Lay Out a 
Strategy for Sustained Recovery,” Foreign Policy, September 9, 2020. 
Augusta Saraiva and Darcy Palder, “After COVID-19, Latin America Braces for ‘Lost Decade,’ 
Already One of the Most Unequal Regions in the World, It May Face an Unprecedented Rise in 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Inequality and Poverty Due to the Economic Carnage of the Pandemic,” Foreign Policy, 
September 4, 2020. 
Ashfaq Zaman, “The Developing World Could Come Out of the Pandemic Ahead. Thanks to 
Favorable Demographics, Digitization Efforts, and Quicker Health Responses, Many Countries of 
the Global South Are Faring Better Than Their Wealthy Counterparts,” Foreign Policy, 
September 2, 2020. 
Linda Zhang, “COVID-19 Is a Perfect Cover for Xi Jinping’s Stealth Nationalization,” American 
Enterprise Institute, August 31, 2020. 
Edoardo Campanel a,  “The Bubonic Plague Kil ed  Feudalism. COVID-19 Wil   Entrench It. 
Throughout History, Pandemics Have Been a Great Equalizer. Here’s Why This Time Is 
Different,” Foreign Policy, August 20, 2020. 
Juan Montes and Vibhuti Agarwal, “Coronavirus’s Long, Deadly Plateau in the Developing 
World,” Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2020. 
Lawrence Wright, “How Pandemics Wreak Havoc—and Open Minds, The Plague Marked the 
End of the Middle Ages and the Start of a Great Cultural  Renewal. Could the Coronavirus, for All 
Its Destruction, Offer a Similar Opportunity for Radical Change?” New Yorker, July 13, 2020. 
Julie Turkewitz and Sofía Vil amil,  “In Latin America, the Pandemic Threatens Equality Like 
Never Before,” New York Times, July 11 (updated July 13), 2020. 
Jonathan D. Moyer and Oliver Kaplan,  “Wil   the Coronavirus Fuel Conflict? Projections Based 
on Economic and Development Data Show an Increased Risk of Internal Violence in Fragile 
States Driven by Rising Prices and Fal ing Incomes,” Foreign Policy, July 6, 2020. 
Sheri Berman, “Crises Only Sometimes Lead to Change. Here’s Why,” Foreign Policy, July 4, 
2020. 
Gerald Imray and Joseph Kauss, “Worst Virus Fears Are Realized in Poor or War-torn Countries,” 
Associated Press, June 29, 2020. 
Yaroslav Trofimov and Drew Hinshaw, “Europe’s Far-Right Fails to Capitalize  on Coronavirus 
Crisis,” Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2020. 
Joe Parkin Daniels, “Latin America’s Wave of Protests Was Historic—Then the Pandemic 
Arrived, The Coronavirus and Lockdowns Have Worsened the Region’s Economic Divides—and 
Set the Stage for More Political Upheaval,” Foreign Policy, June 25, 2020. 
Emil Avdaliani,  “Eurasia Disunion, The Pandemic Exacerbates the Divisions in the Kremlin-Led 
Body,” Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), June 18, 2020. 
Maria Snegovaya, Denis Volkov, and Stepan Goncharov, “The Coronavirus Could Hit Putin Most 
of Al ,”  Foreign Policy, June 5, 2020. 
Frances Z. Brown and Megan Doherty, “How the United States Can Address Global Fragility in a 
Pandemic,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, June 4, 2020. 
Fareed Zakaria, “The Pandemic’s Second Stage Is Here—And It’s Getting Ugly,” Washington 
Post, May 28, 2020. 
Robyn Dixon, “In Russia’s Pandemic Struggles, Even Putin Couldn’t Speed Bonuses to Health 
Workers,” Washington Post, May 27, 2020. 
Cyrus Newlin and Heather A. Conley, “Responding to a Pandemic, Putin Trades Russia’s Future 
for His Own,” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), May 27, 2020. 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Wil   Todman, “Assad Attempts to Weaponize COVID-19 in Syria,” The Hill, May 27, 2020. 
Nisha Bel inger  and Kyle  Kattelman, “The Coronavirus Is Boosting Terror Threats in the 
Developing World, The Pandemic Exacerbates Worsen Existing Food Crises, Undermining 
Stability,” Defense One, May 26, 2020. 
Husain Haqqani and Aparna Pande, “Crisis from Kolkata to Kabul:  COVID-19’s Impact on South 
Asia,” Hudson Institute, May 26, 2020. 
Herman Pirchner Jr., “Vladimir Putin’s Increasingly Precarious Future,” National Interest, May 
26, 2020. 
Colm Quinn, “Do Poor Countries Face a Greater Risk From Coronavirus? The WHO Chief Is 
‘Very Concerned’ About Rising Cases in Poorer Countries, as Worldwide Cases Pass Five 
Mil ion,”  Foreign Policy, May 21, 2020. 
Brian Whitmore, “The Kremlin’s Numbers Rracket, A Persistent and Prolific Propaganda 
Machine Meets a Deadly Global Pandemic. Now What Happens?” Center for European Policy 
Analysis (CEPA), May 19, 2020. 
Janusz Bugajski, “Ethnic Echoes, The Pandemic is Animating Europe’s Ethnic and Regional 
Disputes,” Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), May 18, 2020. 
James Crabtree et al., “How the Coronavirus Pandemic Wil  Permanently Expand Government 
Powers, Ten Leading Global Thinkers on an Expansion of Government Powers,” Foreign Policy, 
May 16, 2020. (Includes short contributions from 10 observers.) 
Polina Beliakova,  “COVID-19 and the Limits of Putin’s Power,” War on the Rocks, May 13, 
2020. 
Sidney Lang, “Coronavirus: China Faces Historic Test as Pandemic Stokes Fears of Looming 
Unemployment Crisis,” South China Morning Post, May 11, 2020. 
Robyn Dixon, “Putin Knows How to Rule Russia as An Autocrat. But He Seems on the Sidelines 
Amid Coronavirus Crisis,” Washington Post, May 7, 2020. 
Ann M. Simmons, “In Russia, Putin Wrestles With Economic Impact of Coronavirus,” Wall Street 
Journal, May 6, 2020. 
Judd Devermont and Simon Al ison,  “Covid-19 in Africa: The Good News and the Bad,” Center 
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), May 4, 2020. 
Nathan Hodge, “As Coronavirus Hits Record Numbers in Russia, This Is a Dangerous Moment 
for Putin,” CNN, May 4, 2020. 
Clara Ferreira Marques, “Coronavirus Has Exposed Putin’s Brittle Regime,” Bloomberg, May 4, 
2020. 
Henry Foy, “Russia: Pandemic Tests Putin’s Grip on Power,” Financial Times, May 4, 2020. 
Cary Huang, “Coronavirus: China Faces an Economic Reckoning as Covid-19 Turns World 
Against Globalisation,” South China Morning Post, May 3, 2020. 
Minxin Pei, “China’s Coming Upheaval, Competition, the Coronavirus, and the Weakness of Xi 
Jinping,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2020. 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
World Economy, Globalization, and U.S. Trade Policy 
Colm Quinn, “Rich vs. Poor (Again) at WTO, Months after India and South Africa Made Their 
Initial Proposal, the World Trade Organization Has Another Chance to Waive Intel ectual 
Property Rights for Covid-19 Vaccines and Treatments,” Foreign Policy, March 10, 2021. 
Scott Lincicome, “The Pandemic Does Not Demand Government Micromanagement of Global 
Supply Chains,” Cato Institute, February 24, 2021. 
Fatima Hassan, “Don’t Let Drug Companies Create a System of Vaccine Apartheid, To Avoid 
Repeating the Pitfal s of the HIV/AIDS Crisis, Governments and the WTO Must Make COVID-
19 Vaccination a Public Good by Temporarily Waiving Intel ectual Property Rights and 
Compel ing Emergency Production,” Foreign Policy, February 23, 2021. 
Peter S. Goodman, “One Vaccine Side Effect: Global Economic Inequality, As Covid Inoculations 
Begin, the Economic Downturn Stands to be Reversed, but Developing Countries Are at Risk of 
Being Left Behind,” New York Times, December 25, 2020. 
Reuters, “Pandemic Speeds Labour Shift from Humans to Robots, WEF Survey Finds,” Thomson 
Reuters Foundation News, October 20, 2020. 
Scott Lincicome, “Why a Successful COVID-19 Vaccine Depends on Globalization, Each of the 
Vaccines that the United States Has Secured Appears to be Heavily Reliant on Globalization  to 
Produce the Final Doses at the Absolute Maximum Speed and Scale,” National Interest, October 
16, 2020. 
Josh Zumbrun and Yuka Hayashi, “China Growth Limits Global Economic Damage From 
Pandemic, IMF Says,” Wall Street Journal, October 13, 2020. 
Eric K. Hontz, “The Fate of Globalization  in the Post-Coronavirus Era,” National Interest, 
September 12, 2020. 
Niccolò Pisani, “Trump’s China ‘Decoupling’ and Coronavirus: Why 2020 Upheaval Won’t Kill 
Globalisation,” The Conversation, September 9, 2020. 
Carmen Reinhart and Vincent Reinhart, “The Pandemic Depression, The Global Economy Wil  
Never Be the Same,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2020. 
Anthony B. Kim, “Protectionism and the Pandemic Are Curtailing  Global Trade. Policymakers 
Must Act Accordingly,” Heritage Foundation, August 5, 2020. 
Hoe Ee Khor and Suan Yong Foo, “What Lies Ahead for Global Value Chains in Asia?” East Asia 
Forum, July 28, 2020. 
Henry Farrel  and Abraham Newman, “This Is What the Future of Globalization Wil   Look Like,” 
Foreign Policy, July 4, 2020. 
Anthony Faiola, “The Virus That Shut Down the World,” Washington Post, June 26, 2020. 
Ravi Agrawal, “The Pandemic Is Reversing Decades of Progress, A New Report Warns that 120 
Mil ion  Children in South Asia Could Fal  into Poverty This Year Because of Lockdowns—and 
Tens of Thousands Could Die from Disease,” Foreign Policy, June 25, 2020. 
Stephanie Segal and Dylan Gerstel, “Covid-19 and the Global Financial Safety Net,” Center for 
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), June 25, 2020. 
Martin Crutsinger, “IMF Downgrades Outlook for Global Economy in Face of Virus,” Associated 
Press, June 24, 2020. 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Bruno Maçães, “The Great Pause Was an Economic Revolution, Governments Stopped the World 
in Its Tracks During the Pandemic—and Our Relationship to the Economy Wil  Never Be the 
Same Again,” Foreign Policy, June 22, 2020. 
Andy Sumner, Christopher Hoy, and Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez, “Global Poverty: Coronavirus Could 
Drive It Up for the First Time Since the 1990s,” The Conversation, June 16, 2020. 
Peter Gourevitch and Deborah Seligsohn, “Remaking the Global  System After COVID-19,” East 
Asia Forum, June 7, 2020. 
Evelyn Cheng, “China  May Become One of Many Hubs as Companies Diversify Manufacturing 
After Coronavirus Shock,” CNBC, May 25, 2020. 
Joshua Posaner, “Merkel Warns Against Trade Barriers in Face of Coronavirus Recession,” 
Politico, May 20, 2020. 
Frank G. Wisner Matthew Kirk, “Here’s What the Coronavirus Means for the Future of 
Geopolitics and Trade,” National Interest, May 18, 2020. 
Barak M. Seener, “The World is Round: Shifting Supply Chains and a Fragmented World Order,” 
National Interest, May 16, 2020. 
Rhonda Ferguson, “Why Coronavirus Is an Opportunity to Transform the Global Food Trade,” 
National Interest, May 11, 2020. 
Asa Fitch, Kate O’Keeffe, and Bob Davis, “Trump and Chip Makers Including Intel Seek 
Semiconductor Self-Sufficiency, Pentagon Says Coronavirus Pandemic Underscores 
Vulnerability  from Reliance on Asian Factories,” Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2020. 
Robert E. Lighthizer,  “The Era of Offshoring U.S. Jobs Is Over, The Pandemic, and Trump’s 
Trade Policy, Are Accelerating a Trend to Bring Manufacturing Back to America,” New York 
Times, May 11, 2020. 
Michael Nienaber, “Germany’s Altmaier Wants Europe to Be Less Dependent on Other 
Countries,” Reuters, May 9, 2020. 
Aaron Friedberg, “The United States Needs to Reshape Global Supply Chains, U.S. Strategy 
Needs Reglobalization  to Snatch Critical Power Away from China,” Foreign Policy, May 8, 2020. 
Ana Quintana, James Roberts, and Anthony Kim, “A U.S.–Mexico-Canada (USMCA) Economic 
Partnership Recovery Plan,” Heritage Foundation, May 7, 2020. 
Desmond Lachman, “Could Italy Default on Its Debt Due to the Coronavirus?” National Interest, 
May 7, 2020. 
Ruchir Sharma, “The Pandemic Isn’t Changing Everything, It Is Just Speeding Up Trends That 
Were Already Underway,” New York Times, May 3, 2020. 
James Crabtree, “The End of Emerging Markets? Economies such as Brazil, Indonesia, India, 
Russia, and Turkey face a daunting new reality,” Foreign Policy, May 3, 2020. 
Kevin Sieff, “The U.S. Wants Mexico to Keep Its Defense and Health-Care Factories Open. 
Mexican Workers Are Getting Sick and Dying,” Washington Post, May 1, 2020. 
Ariel  E. Levite and Lyu Jinghua, “Travails of an Interconnected World: From Pandemics to the 
Digital  Economy,” Lawfare, April 30, 2020. 
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Nathaniel Taplin, “Trump’s Trade Deal With China Is Another Coronavirus Victim, The 
Pandemic Is Exposing the Perils of Agreements Based on Numerical Targets Rather Than Tariff 
Reductions or Policy Concessions,” Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2020. 
Trevor Jackson, “Terminal Deflation Is Coming, Central Banks’ Interventions in the Pandemic 
Economy Are Unprecedentedly Vast—and Not Nearly Enough,” Foreign Policy, April  29, 2020. 
Greg Ip, “Globalization  Is Down but Not Out Yet,” Wall Street Journal, April  28, 2020. 
Zhou Xin, “Coronavirus: How Wil   China’s Role in the Global Economy Change When Faced 
with Pandemic Backlash?” South China Morning Post, April 28, 2020. 
Nicholas Mulder and Adam Tooze, “The Coronavirus Oil Shock Is Just Getting Started,” Foreign 
Policy, April 23, 2020. 
Jack Detsch and Robbie Gramer, “The Coronavirus Could Upend Trump’s China Trade Deal,” 
Foreign Policy, April 21, 2020. 
Richard Fontaine, “Globalization  Wil   Look Very Different After the Coronavirus Pandemic ,” 
Foreign Policy, April 17, 2020. 
Neil Irwin, “It’s the End of the World Economy as We Know It, Experts Suggest There Will Be 
‘A Rethink of How Much Any Country Wants to Be Reliant on Any Other Country,’” New York 
Times, April  16, 2020. 
Robert Delaney, “Economic Havoc Wreaked by Coronavirus Has Likely Throttled US-China 
Trade Deal, Experts Say,” South China Morning Post, April 15, 2020. 
Joseph E. Stiglitz et al., “How the Economy Wil   Look After the Coronavirus Pandemic, The 
Pandemic Will  Change the Economic and Financial Order Forever. We Asked Nine Leading 
Global Thinkers for Their Predictions,” Foreign Policy, April 15, 2020. 
Martin Wolf, “The World Economy Is Now Collapsing, A Microbe Has Overthrown Our 
Arrogance and Sent Global Output into a Tailspin,” Financial Times, April  14, 2020. 
Josh Zumbrun, “Coronavirus-Afflicted Global Economy Is Almost Certainly in Recession,” Wall 
Street Journal, April 14, 2020. 
By Raphael S. Cohen Sunday, “The Coronavirus Wil  Not Stop Globalization,” Lawfare, April 
12, 2020. 
Dalia Marin, “How COVID-19 Is Transforming Manufacturing,” Project Syndicate, April 3, 
2020. 
Allied Defense Spending and U.S. Alliances 
Jeffrey Lightfoot and Olivier-Rémy Bel, Sovereign Solidarity, France, the US, and Alliances in a 
Post-Covid World, Atlantic Council, 2020 (released November 11, 2020), 28 pp. 
Pierre Morcos, Toward a New “Lost Decade”? Covid-19 and Defense Spending in Europe, 
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), October 2020 (posted October 15, 2020), 7 
pp. 
Alice Bil on-Gal and,  COVID-19 and the Defence Policies of European States, NATO Defense 
College, October 2020, 4 pp. 
Claudia Major, Catalyst or Crisis? COVID-19 and European Security, NATO Defense College, 
October 2020, 4 pp. 
Congressional Research Service 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Olivier Rittimann, NATO and the COVID-19 Emergency: Actions and Lessons, NATO Defense 
College, September 2020, 4 pp. 
Sten Rynning, A Renewed Collective Defense Bargain? NATO in COVID’s Shadow, NATO 
Defense College, September 2020, 4 pp. 
Charles V. Peña, “Money and Missions: NATO Should Learn from Europe’s Pandemic 
Response,” Defense News, August 20, 2020. 
Yukio Tajima, “Japan Must Rethink Excessive Reliance on US Security, Says Expert,” Nikkei 
Asian Review, July 7, 2020. 
Daniel Hurst, “Australia to Acquire Long-Range Missiles as PM Warns of Dangerous Post-
Covid-19 World,” Guardian, June 30, 2020. 
Kurt Volker,  “Think Big, To Build  a Post-pandemic World Order We Must Wake a Sleeping 
Giant: NATO,” Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), June 12, 2020. 
John Grady, “COVID-19 Pandemic Changing How NATO Thinks of Global Security,” USNI 
News, June 9, 2020. 
Steven Erlanger, “European Defense and ‘Strategic Autonomy’ Are Also Coronavirus Victims,” 
New York Times, May 23, 2020. 
Mihail  Naydenov, “NATO and its Eastern Flank: Chal enges of a Post-COVID Environment,” 
Middle East Institute, May 21, 2020. 
Silvia Amaro, “Coronavirus Could Hit Defense Spending and Spark NATO Tensions Once 
Again,” CNBC, May 13, 2020. 
Ben Doherty, “The Indispensable Nation? Covid-19 Tests the US-Australian Al iance,” Guardian, 
May 5, 2020. 
Wal ace C. Gregson, “The Coronavirus Creates New National Security Problems for America,” 
National Defense, May 3, 2020. 
Thierry Tardy, editor, COVID-19: NATO in the Age of Pandemics, NATO Defense College, May 
2020, 69 pp. 
European Union 
Caroline  de Gruyter, “Europe Needed Borders. Coronavirus Built Them. The Pandemic Has the 
Continent Increasingly Discussing Its Common Boundaries—and Common Identity,” Foreign 
Policy, December 4, 2020. 
Colm Quinn, “Can Europe Come Together to Save Itself? A Quarrel over the EU Coronavirus 
Fund Threatens to Stal  Economic Recovery Efforts,” Foreign Policy, November 19, 2020. 
Joseph de Weck and Elettra Ardissino, “The Pandemic Is Showing What the EU Is Good For,” 
Foreign Policy, September 8, 2020. 
Adam Tooze, “It’s a New Europe—if You Can Keep It, The Continent Has Managed to Take a 
Great Leap Forward—But There Stil  Might Be a Crash Landing,” Foreign Policy, August 7, 
2020. 
Editorial  Board, “The Pandemic Has Made Europe Stronger,” Washington Post, July 28, 2020. 
Joseph de Weck, “Germany Is Final y Ready to Spend, In the Long Run, the COVID-19 
Pandemic May Change Europe’s Economy for the Better,” Foreign Policy, June 22, 2020. 
Congressional Research Service 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Patrick Donahue and Arne Delfs, “Merkel Cal s for Agreement on EU Fund Before Summer 
Break,” Bloomberg, June 18, 2020. 
Desmond Lachman, “A Eurozone Economic Crisis Thanks to Coronavirus?” National Interest, 
June 2, 2020. 
Michael Birnbaum, “Germany, borrowing from Trump, says it wants to make Europe ‘strong 
again,’” Washington Post, May 29, 2020. 
Trevor Jackson, “Forget Hamilton. This Is Europe’s Calonne Moment,” Foreign Policy, May 29, 
2020. 
Adriano Bosoni, “Wil   COVID-19 Be the Eurozone’s Undoing?” Stratfor, May 27, 2020. 
Michael Birnbaum and Loveday Morris, “E.U. Proposes $825 Bil ion  Coronavirus Rescue Plan 
Giving Brussels Power to Raise Money for First Time,” Washington Post, May 27, 2020. 
Editorial  Board, “Europe Seeks Its ‘Hamilton Moment,’ Too Bad the EU Skips Over the Part 
About Democratic Legitimacy,” Wall Street Journal, May 27, 2020. 
Robin Emmott, “EU Keeps Defence Fund Alive with 8 Bil ion  Euro Proposal,” Reuters, May 27, 
2020. 
Matina Stevis-Gridneff, “A €750 Bil ion  Virus Recovery Plan Thrusts Europe Into a New 
Frontier,” New York Times, May 27 (updated May 28), 2020. 
Associated Press, “EU’s Top Diplomat Urges ‘More Robust Strategy’ Toward China,” 
Washington Post, May 25, 2020. 
Sylvie Kauffmann, “Can Europe Stay Back From the Brink? After Three Months of Chaos and 
Deaths Caused by the Pandemic, the Continent, Led by Germany and France, Is Giving 
Convergence Another Try,” New York Times, May 22, 2020. 
Paul Hockenos, “Has the Coronavirus Disappeared Climate Politics? Europe’s Pandemic Bailouts 
Are Trying to Save the Continent’s Economy. Less Clear Is If They Can Save the Planet,” 
Foreign Policy, May 21, 2020. 
John Chalmers, Gabriela Baczynska, “‘It’s Up to Us’: How Merkel and Macron Revived EU 
Solidarity,” Reuters, May 20, 2020. 
Angela Charlton, Lorne Cook, and Jari Tanner (Associated Press), “Germany Breaks Taboo in 
Effort to Get EU Through Pandemic,” New York Times, May 19, 2020. 
Andreas Rinke and John Revil , “Europe Risks Being Left Behind China, U.S. by Coronavirus: 
Siemens CEO,” Reuters, May 19, 2020. 
Denise Roland, Noemie Bisserbe, and Nick Kostov, “Europe Fal s Behind U.S. in Funding 
Coronavirus Vaccine—and Securing Access,” Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2020. 
Steven Erlanger, “Merkel, Breaking German ‘Taboo,’ Backs Shared E.U. Debt to Tackle Virus,” 
New York Times, May 18, 2020. 
Liam Kennedy, “How Coronavirus Revealed the Weakness of Europe, Coronavirus Has 
Underlined the Frailty of the ‘European Project’ and Deepened Anxiety About Its Future,” 
National Interest, May 14, 2020. 
Nikos Chrysoloras, “Debt Crisis, Brexit, Now Virus. Can the EU Survive?” Bloomberg, May 13, 
2020. 
Congressional Research Service 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Jennifer Rankin, “EU Faces ‘Existential Threat’ If Coronavirus Recovery Is Uneven,” Guardian, 
May 13, 2020. 
Andrew Smal , “The Meaning of Systemic Rivalry: Europe and China Beyond the Pandemic,” 
European Council on Foreign Relations, May 13, 2020. 
Lorne Cook, “Concern Mounts That Border Measures Threaten EU Free Travel,” Associated 
Press, May 12, 2020. 
“EU’s Top Diplomat Warns Against Defense Cuts,” Defense News, May 12, 2020. (This article 
does not list an author.) 
Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu, “Israel and the European Union in times of coronavirus pandemic,” 
Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2020. 
Bjarke Smith-Meyer and Paola Tamma, “Brussels Eyes a Bigger EU  Shareholder Role in the 
Coronavirus Recovery,” Politico, May 10 (updated May 11), 2020. 
Michael Birnbaum, “E.U. Defends Handling of China Relations After Beijing  Censors Op-ed 
Written by Bloc’s Ambassadors,” Washington Post, May 7, 2020. 
Heather A. Conley, “Covid-19 May Encourage a No-Deal Brexit,” Center for Strategic and 
International Studies (CSIS), May 7, 2020. 
Lorne Cook and Llazar Semini, “EU Aims to Reassure Balkans with Virus Aid, Economic 
Support,” Associated Press, May 6, 2020. 
Christopher Caldwel , “Can the European Union Survive a Pandemic? The Coronavirus Crisis 
Has Turned Its Member Nations Against Each Other,” New Republic, May 5, 2020. 
Rick Noack, “The Coronavirus Has Brought Back Border Barriers in Europe, Dividing  Couples, 
Families and Communities,” Washington Post, May 1, 2020. 
Donatienne Ruy and Heather A. Conley, “Covid-19 and the Search for an Ambitious EU 
Recovery Fund,” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), May 1, 2020. 
Definition of, and Budgeting for, U.S. National Security 
Josh Kerbel, “The US Talks A Lot About Strategic Complexity. Too Bad It’s Mostly Just Talk, 
The Pandemic Sidelined a National Security Community that Gives Only Lip Service to a Vital 
Concept,” Defense One, March 9, 2021. 
Susan B. Glasser, “What Does National Security Even Mean Anymore, After January 6th and the 
Pandemic? Talking Threats, Foreign and Domestic, with Mark Mil ey, the Chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff,” New Yorker, March 4, 2021. 
Jacob Parakilas, “The Lesson of 2020? Security Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Does, And 
Science and Technology Wil  Only Take Us So Far When It Comes to Future Threats, 
Conventional or Otherwise,” Diplomat, December 23, 2020. 
Patrick M. Cronin and Audrey Kurth Cronin, “Rebuilding America in the Post Trump Era, The 
Trump Administration’s Woeful Response to Many Threats, but Especial y the Coronavirus 
Pandemic, Demonstrates that Dealing with Tomorrow’s Bioterror Threat Must be a National 
Security Priority,” National Interest, December 18, 2020. 
Kevin Bilms,  “Wil   COVID Final y  Force Us to Think Differently About National Security? The 
‘Softer’ Approaches of Irregular War Offer Outsized Benefits During Competition and Armed 
Conflict Alike,” Defense One, December 15, 2020. 
Congressional Research Service 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Michael R. Gordon and Warren P. Strobel, “Coronavirus Pandemic Stands to Force Changes in 
U.S. Spy Services, After Years of Underplaying Soft Threats Like Disease and Climate Change, 
National-Security Establishment Faces Cal s for a New Approach,” Wall Street Journal, 
November 22, 2020. 
Uri Firedman, “The Pandemic Is Revealing a New Form of National Power, In the COVID-19 
Era, a Country’s Strength Is Determined Not Only by Its Military and Economy, but Also by Its 
Resilience,” Atlantic, November 15, 2020. 
Frank Hoffman, “National Security in the Post-Pandemic Era,” Orbis, Winter 2021: 17-45. (The 
first page of the article carries an additional date of November 2020.) 
Marigny Kirschke-Schwartz, “America Must Act To Avoid A Biotechnology Arms Race, the 
Covid-19 Pandemic Has Shown Us the Potential for a Biological  Incident to Upend Global 
Stability, and the Implications Are Sobering,” National Interest, September 22, 2020. 
Calder Walton, “US Intel igence, the Coronavirus and the Age of Globalized Chal enges,” Belfer 
Center for Science and International Affairs, August 24, 2020. 
Brad Bannon, “Military  Madness in the Age of COVID-19,” The Hill, July 6, 2020. 
Savannah Wooten, “Rethinking the Military Budget Amid the Coronavirus Crisis,” National 
Interest, June 30, 2020. 
Brandon Valeriano, Lauren Sander, and Eric Gomez, “The Senate’s Defense Authorization Bil  
Ignores Our New Reality,” Defense One, June 17, 2020. 
Shane Harris and Missy Ryan, “To Prepare for the Next Pandemic, the U.S. Needs to Change Its 
National  Security Priorities, Experts Say,” Washington Post, June 16, 2020. 
John Grady, “Panel: COVID-19 Pandemic Could Prompt Changes to National Security 
Spending,” USNI News, June 15 (updated June 16), 2020. 
Laicie Heeley,  “We Prepared for War, But Should Have Spent Our Money Elsewhere,” Defense 
News, June 10, 2020. 
Sue Gordon, “Op-ed: The Coronavirus Pandemic Should Change the Way We Look at National 
Security,” CNBC, May 28, 2020. 
Anca Agachi, “The Miner’s Canary: COVID-19 and the Rise of Non-Traditional Security 
Threats,” Defense One, May 16, 2020. 
Joseph Marks, “The Cybersecurity 202: Security Pros Form Al iance to Help Hospitals  Facing 
Hacking Threats During Pandemic,” Washington Post, May 4, 2020. 
Bejamin  H. Friedman, Restraint: A Post-COVID-19 U.S. National Security Strategy, Defense 
Priorities, May 2020, 4 pp. 
Greg Barbaccia, “The Coronavirus Pandemic Wil  Force a Paradigm Shift in the U.S. Intel igence 
Community,” National Interest, April  23, 2020. 
Kori Schake, “A New Org Chart Won’t Stop the Next Pandemic,” Bloomberg, April 22, 2020. 
Rachel Olney, “How Wil   the Pandemic Affect National Security Innovation?” War on the Rocks, 
April 21, 2020. 
Christopher Woody, “After Coronavirus, the US Needs to Worry about a ‘7th domain’ of Warfare, 
Top Navy Commander in Europe Says,” Business Insider, April  17, 2020. 
Congressional Research Service 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
David E. Sanger, “Analysis: Wil   Pandemic Make Trump Rethink National Security?” New York 
Times, April  15, 2020. 
Benjamin  Jensen, “When Systems Fail: What Pandemics and Cyberspace Tel  Us About the 
Future of National Security,” War on the Rocks, April  9, 2020. 
Christopher Preble, “How wil  COVID-19 Change US National Security Strategy?” Responsible 
Statecraft, April 8, 2020. 
Glenn S. Gerstel  and Michael Morel ,  “Four Ways U.S. Intel igence Efforts Should Change in the 
Wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic,” Washington Post, April 7, 2020. 
Oona A. Hathaway, “After COVID-19, We Need to Redefine ‘National Security,’ The Post-9/11 
Era Is Over,” Slate, April 7, 2020. 
Zachery Tyson Brown, “America’s National Security Software Needs an Upgrade, The Outdated 
U.S. Security Apparatus Was Completely Unprepared for the Coronavirus Pandemic ,” Foreign 
Policy, April 6, 2020. 
Ben Rhodes, “The 9/11 Era Is Over, The Coronavirus Pandemic and a Chapter of History That 
Should Have Expired Long Ago,” Atlantic, April 6, 2020. 
Gregory D. Koblentz and Michael Hunzeker, “National Security in the Age of Pandemics,” 
Defense One, April 3, 2020. 
Nahal Toosi, “Coronavirus Rattles America’s National Security Priesthood,” Politico Pro, March 
29, 2020. 
Joseph S. Nye Jr., “COVID-19’s Painful Lesson about Strategy and Power,” War on the Rocks, 
March 26, 2020. 
Gary J. Schmitt, “National Security and the Pandemic of 2020,” American Interest, March 20, 
2020. 
U.S. Defense Strategy, Defense Budget, and Military Operations 
America’s Strategic Choices: Defense Spending in a Post-Covid-19 World, An Executive Outbrief 
From The CSBA–Ronald Reagan Institute Defense Worskhops, Center for Strategic and 
Budgetary Assessments, January 2021, 13 pp. 
Tony Bertuca, “Lord Says Pandemic Sharpened DOD’s Focus on Re-Shoring, Especial y 
Microelectronics,” Inside Defense, September 29, 2020. 
Mike Glenn, “Don’t Pay for COVID-19 Relief at Expense of Nation’s Defense, Esper Warns,” 
Washington Times, September 24, 2020. 
Mackenzie Eaglen, “More Safety for Less Security Is a Sucker Bet,” American Enterprise 
Institute, September 3, 2020. 
Jon Harper, “Army a Potential Bil   Payer for COVID-19 Costs,” National Defense, August 18, 
2020. 
Matt Val one,  “U.S. Defense Spending During and After the Pandemic,” War on the Rocks, July 
31, 2020. 
Franklin C. Mil er,  “Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste,” Real Clear Defense, June 1, 2020. 
John C. Hulsman, “Defense Spending Post-Coronavirus: How to Walk and Chew Gum at the 
Same Time,” The Hill, May 31, 2020. 
Congressional Research Service 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Eric Gomez, Christopher A. Preble, Lauren Sander, and Brandon Valeriano,  “Building  a Modern 
Military:  The Force Meets Geopolitical Realities,” Cato Institute, May 26, 2020. 
Courtney Albon, “AFWIC deputy: Air Force Needs New NDS Implementation Plan in Light of 
COVID-19,” Inside Defense, May 27, 2020. 
Eric Lofgren, “Wil   Defense Budgets Remain ‘Sticky’ After the COVID-19 Pandemic?” Defense 
News, May 26, 2020. 
Bradley Bowman, “Don’t Use COVID As Excuse to Slash Defense Spending,” Breaking Defense, 
May 20, 2020. 
Missy Ryan, “Military  Faces Another Potential Coronavirus Toll: Budget Cuts,” Washington Post, 
May 15, 2020. 
Morgan Dwyer, “Prioritizing Weapon System Cybersecurity in a Post-Pandemic Defense 
Department,” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), May 13, 2020. 
Robert Burns, “Bulging  Deficits May Threaten Prized Pentagon Arms Projects,” Associated 
Press, May 12, 2020. 
Loren Thompson, “Think You Know Where Defense Spending Is Headed After Coronavirus? 
Guess Again,” Forbes, May 12, 2020. 
Michael E. O’Hanlon, “From the Pentagon’s ‘4+1’ threat matrix, to ‘4+1 times 2,’” Brookings 
Institution, May 11, 2020. 
Steven Pifer, “Weapons, Opportunity Costs, COVID19 and Avoiding Nuclear War,” National 
Interest, May 11, 2020. 
Bryan Clark and Dan Platt, “The Post-Pandemic Military Wil   Need to Improvise,” Defense One, 
May 8, 2020. 
Susan Montoya Bryan (Associated Press), “US Must Move Ahead with Work on Nukes, Says 
Nuclear Security Boss,” Defense News, May 6, 2020. 
Leo Shane III, “No Extra Money for Defense Amid Coronavirus Crisis, Think Tank Argues,” 
Military Times, May 6, 2020. 
Hal Brands, “Can a Broke America Fight a Cold War With China? The Coronavirus Has United 
Americans Against Beijing’s  Aggressions, But It Will Also Devastate the Pentagon Budget,” 
Bloomberg, May 5, 2020. 
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, “Expand Missile Defenses During the Pandemic, Don’t Cut Them,” 
Defense News, May 5, 2020. 
Fred Kaplan, “Now Is the Time to Cut the Defense Budget,” Slate, May 5, 2020. 
Paul McLeary, “Old Weapons Under Fire As COVID Debt Rises,” Breaking Defense, May 5, 
2020. 
Aaron Mehta, “Esper: Flat Budget Could Speed Cutting of Legacy Programs,” Defense News, 
May 5, 2020. 
John M. Donnel y, “US military poised for post-pandemic shift,” CQ (Congressional Quarterly), 
May 4, 2020. 
Ben Werner, “SECDEF Esper Preparing For Future Defense Spending Cuts,” USNI News, May 4, 
2020. 
Rebecca Kheel, “Defense Budget Brawl Looms After Pandemic,” The Hill, May 3, 2020. 
Congressional Research Service 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Anrea Howard, “The Pandemic and America’s Response to Future Bioweapons,” War on the 
Rocks, May 1, 2020. 
Paul McLeary, “Pentagon Wary Of Adversaries Buying Defense Firms Amid Economic Crisis,” 
Breaking Defense, April 30, 2020. 
Ben Wolfgang, “U.S. Military  Ramps Up Counterterrorism Operations in Africa Amid 
Pandemic,” Washington Times, April  29, 2020. 
David Barno and Nora Bensahel, “Five Ways the U.S. Military  Will  Change After the Pandemic,” 
War on the Rocks, April 28, 2020. 
Maiya Clark, “How Pentagon Is Protecting Defense Supply Chains From COVID-19,” Heritage 
Foundation, April 27, 2020.  
Theresa Hitchens, “DoD Budget Cuts Likely As $4 Tril ion Deficit Looms,” Breaking Defense, 
April 27, 2020. 
Walter Russel  Mead, “The Century of Bioweapons,” Wall Street Journal, April  27, 2020. 
Connor O’Brien, “Defense Boosters Fire Warning Shots over Budget Cuts Due to Pandemic,” 
Politico Pro, April 24, 2020. 
Natasha Bertrand, Daniel Lippman, and Lara Seligman, “Officials Probe the Threat of a 
Coronavirus Bioweapon,” Politico Pro, April  23, 2020. 
Wil iam  D. Hartung, “Now Isn’t the Time to Push for Nuclear Modernization,” Defense News, 
April 21, 2020. 
Loren Thompson, “How Coronavirus Could Permanently Transform The U.S. Military,” Forbes, 
April 20, 2020. 
Todd Harrison, “DoD Must Identify Its ‘Crown Jewels’ in Preparation for Fiscal Uncertainty,” 
Defense News, April 15, 2020. 
Michael J. Mazarr, “Toward a New Theory of Power Projection,” War on the Rocks, April 15, 
2020. 
Robert Burns, “Military  Sees No Quick Exit From ‘New World’ of Coronavirus,” Associated 
Press, April  14, 2020. 
Tony Bertuca, “Global Pandemic Threatens to Hobble National Defense Strategy,” Inside 
Defense, April 13, 2020. 
David Ignatius, “The Coronavirus Is Already Reshaping Defense Strategies,” Washington Post, 
April 9, 2020. 
Daniel L. Davis, “Coronavirus Means No More Money for Forever Wars,” National Interest, 
April 7, 2020. 
Harrison Schramm, Kevin A. Chlan, Peter Kouretsos, COVID-19, Analysis and Policy 
Implications, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 2020 (released April 7, 2020), 31 
pp. 
Jason Sherman, “Analyst: Pandemic Wil   Squeeze Defense Spending As Nation’s Focus Shifts to 
Health Care,” Inside Defense, April  6, 2020. 
Stratfor Worldview, “Wil  the Coronavirus Ruin Countries’ Ability  to Wage War?” National 
Interest, April 5, 2020. 
Congressional Research Service 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
James G. Foggo III, “Germs: The Seventh Domain of Warfare,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, 
April 2020. 
U.S. Foreign Assistance, International Debt Relief, and Refugee 
Policy 
Gabriele  Steinhauser and Joe Wal ace, “Africa’s First Pandemic Default Tests New Effort to Ease 
Debt From China, Effort to Ensure that China and Bondholders Participate in Debt Restructurings 
Could Help Resolve Zambia’s Default,” Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2020. 
Dan Runde, Conor Savoy, and Shannon McKeown, Post-pandemic Governance in the Indo-
Pacific, Adapting USAID’s Strategy in the Face of Covid-19, Center for Strategic and 
International Studies (CSIS), September 2020 (posted September 25, 2020), 11 pp. 
Sam Denney and Kemal Kirisci, “COVID-19 and the Chance to Reform U.S. Refugee Policy,” 
Lawfare, August 18, 2020. 
Daniel F. Runde, “USAID Should Lead Global  Pandemic Response in an Age of Great Power 
Competition,” The Hill, August 17, 2020. 
Rayn El is,  “Conservative Foreign Aid Can Strengthen US Interests in the Coronavirus 
Recovery,” Washington Examiner, August 11, 2020. 
Jamil e Bigio  and Haydn Welch, “As the Global Economy Melts Down, Human Trafficking Is 
Booming,” Foreign Policy, August 10, 2020. 
Zuhumnan Dapel, “It Is Too Late to Save These Victims of the Pandemic, The COVID-19 
Catastrophe Is Shrinking Remittances from the United States and Creating a Looming 
Humanitarian Disaster,” Foreign Policy, July 20, 2020. 
Frances D’Emilio, “UN: Pandemic Could Push Tens of Mil ions into Chronic Hunger,” 
Associated Press, July 13, 2020. 
Emily Hawthorne, “COVID-19 Cash Shortages Wil  Cripple Global Humanitarian Efforts,” 
Stratfor, June 30, 2020. 
Olivia  Enos, “The Danger for Refugees and the Most Vulnerable During COVID-19,” Heritage 
Foundation, June 22, 2020. 
Stephanie Segel, “International Financial Institutions Step Up, but Debt Sustainability Looms 
Large for Future Support,” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), May 21, 2020. 
Joel Gehrke, “Fighting China with Foreign Aid:  USAID Becomes a Critical  Tool in Battle  for 
World Influence,” Washington Examiner, May 10, 2020. 
Michael H. Fuchs, Alexandra Schmitt, and Haneul Lee, “Foreign Aid is Critical to Stopping the 
Coronavirus,” National Interest, May 3, 2020. 
Daniel F. Runde, Conor M. Savoy, and Shannon McKeown, “Covid-19 Has Consequences for 
U.S. Foreign Aid and Global Leadership,” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 
May 1, 2020. 
James Kynge and Sun Yu, “China Faces Wave of Cal s for Debt Relief on ‘Belt and Road’ 
Projects,” Financial Times, April 30, 2020. 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Charles Holmes, Anthony Lake, and Witney Schneidman, “It’s Time to Help Africa Fight the 
Virus, The Continent Is Ripe for a Public Health Disaster, and Western Powers Must Step in to 
Prevent Another Global Catastrophe,” Foreign Policy, April 29, 2020. 
Department of State, “The United States Continues Leadership in the Global COVID-19 
Response With More Than $270 Mil ion  in Additional  U.S. Foreign Assistance,” press statement, 
Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State, April 22, 2020. 
Matthew Lee, “Virus Pandemic Collides with Trump’s Disdain for Foreign Aid,” Associated 
Press, April  17, 2020. 
Adam Tooze, “A Global Pandemic Bailout Was Coming—Until America Stopped It,” Foreign 
Policy, April 17, 2020. 
Editorial  Board, “Even as Rich Countries Reel, It’s Imperative to Help Emerging Markets,” 
Washington Post, April 16, 2020. 
Dayo Israel, “Unless Canceled, Africa’s Debt Burden Will  Cause COVID-19 to Kill  Mil ions,” 
Washington Examiner, April 16, 2020. 
Cara Anna and Aya Batrawy, “Richest Countries Agree to Freeze Poorer Nations’ Debt,” 
Associated Press, April  15, 2020. 
Nahal Toosi, “Trump Hobbles Foreign Aid as Coronavirus Rips Around the World, Confusion at 
the Top Has Crippled USAID at a Critical Time for the Global Battle  Against the Pandemic,” 
Politico, April 15, 2020. 
Olivia  Enos, “Responding to COVID-19 in Southeast Asia,” Heritage Foundation, April  14, 2020. 
Josh Zumbrun, “G-7 Countries Support Debt Relief for Poorest Countries If Joined by Full G-
20,” Wall Street Journal, April  14, 2020. 
Robbie Gramer, “Outgoing USAID Chief Says Pandemic Underscores Importance of Foreign 
Aid,” Foreign Policy, April  13, 2020. 
Josh Rogin, “The Pandemic Means the Trump Administration Must Stop Mistreating USAID,” 
Washington Post, April 9, 2020. 
Josh Rogin, “America’s $2 Tril ion Coronavirus Stimulus Package Ignores the Rest of the 
World,” Washington Post, March 26, 2020. 
Non-state Actors 
Michael King and Sam Mullins, “COVID-19 and Terrorism in the West: Has Radicalization 
Real y Gone Viral?”  Just Security, March 4, 2021. 
Lindsey Kennedy and Nathan Paul Southern, “The Pandemic Is Putting Gangsters in Power, As 
States Struggle, Organized Crime Is Rising to New Prominence,” Foreign Policy, February 15, 
2021. 
Lindsey Kennedy and Nathan Paul Southern, “How to Run a Criminal Network in a Pandemic, 
Drug Dealers and Human Traffickers Are Upgrading Their Marketing and Delivery Services,” 
Foreign Policy, September 5, 2020. 
Joby Warrick, “Covid-19 Pandemic Is Stoking Extremist Flames Worldwide, Analysts Warn,” 
Washington Post, July 9, 2020. 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Ioan Gril o,  “How Mexico’s Drug Cartels Are Profiting From the Pandemic,” New York Times, 
July 7, 2020. 
Edith M. Lederer, “UN Chief Warns COVID-19 Provides Opportunity for Terrorists,” Associated 
Press, July 6, 2020. 
Robin Simcox, “Terrorism After the Pandemic, Months of Isolation and Governments Grappling 
with Other Crises Could Lead to a Rise in Attacks,” Foreign Policy, July 2, 2020. 
Zachary Abuza and Alif Satria, “How Are Indonesia’s Terrorist Groups Weathering the 
Pandemic?” Diplomat, June 23, 2020. 
Camilo Tamayo Gomez, “Coronavirus: Drug Cartels Functioning as Governing Bodies Could 
Receive Popularity Boost,” National Interest, June 23, 2020. 
Simon Harding, “How Gangs and Drug Dealers Adapted to the Pandemic Reality,” National 
Interest, June 22, 2020. 
Nikita Malik,  “How to Prepare for the Coronavirus’s Impact on Terrorism,” National Interest, 
June 21, 2020. 
Anthony Faiola and Lucien Chauvin, “The Coronavirus Has Gutted the Price of Coca. It Could 
Reshape the Cocaine Trade,” Washington Post, June 9, 2020. 
Alexandra Lamarche, Arden Bentley, Rachel Schmidtke, and Sahar Atrache, “The Coronavirus 
Has Become Terrorists’ Combat Weapon of Choice,” National Interest, June 9, 2020. 
Audrey Wilson, “Goodbye, Government. Hel o, Mafia. From Insurgent Groups to Charities, a 
Range of Nongovernmental Organizations Are Stepping In to Respond to the Coronavirus 
Crisis,” Foreign Policy, May 22, 2020. 
Ryan Browne, “ISIS Seeks to Exploit Pandemic to Mount Resurgence in Iraq and Syria,” CNN, 
May 8, 2020. 
Robert Muggah, “The Pandemic Has Triggered Dramatic Shifts in the Global Criminal 
Underworld,” Foreign Policy, May 8, 2020. 
Ashley Jackson, “For the Taliban, the Pandemic Is a Ladder,” Foreign Policy, May 6, 2020. 
Brandon Prins, “Why Coronavirus May Lead to More Piracy,” National Interest, May 6, 2020. 
Emilia  Columbo and Mariel e  Harris, “Extremist Groups Stepping up Operations during the 
Covid-19 Outbreak in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 
May 1, 2020. 
Lydia Khalil,  “COVID-19 and America’s Counter-Terrorism Response,” War on the Rocks, May 
1, 2020. 
Luke Baker, “Militants, Fringe Groups Exploiting COVID-19, Warns EU Anti-Terrorism Chief,” 
Reuters, April  30, 2020. 
Joseph Hincks, “With the World Busy Fighting COVID-19, Could ISIS Mount a Resurgence?” 
Time, April 29, 2020. 
Luis Fajardo, “Coronavirus: Latin American Crime Gangs Adapt to Pandemic,” BBC, April 22, 
2020. 
Raffael o Pantucci, “After the Coronavirus, Terrorism Won’t Be the Same,” Foreign Policy, April 
22, 2020. 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Valentina  Di Donato and Tim Lister, “The Mafia Is Poised to Exploit Coronavirus, and Not Just 
in Italy,” CNN, April  19, 2020. 
Jim Mustian and Jake Bleiberg, “‘Cartels Are Scrambling’: Virus Snarls Global Drug Trade,” 
Associated Press, April  19, 2020. 
Colum Lynch, “How Trump and Putin Weakened U.N. Bid for a Global Cease-Fire, U.S. Officials 
Worry That Counterterrorism Operations Wil  Be Constrained,” Foreign Policy, April  17, 2020. 
Seth J. Frantzman, “Iran Regime, ISIS and Other Extremists Exploit Coronavirus to Wreak 
Havoc,” Jerusalem Post, April  16, 2020. 
Kevin Sieff, Susannah George, and Kareem Fahim, “Now Joining the Fight Against Coronavirus: 
The World’s Armed Rebels, Drug Cartels and Gangs,” Washington Post, April 14, 2020. 
Souad Mekhennet, “Far-Right and Radical Islamist Groups Are Exploiting  Coronavirus Turmoil,” 
Washington Post, April 10, 2020. 
Yonah Jeremy Bob, “Coronavirus Economic Impact Could Block Iran from Funding Terror—
INSS,” Jerusalem Post, April  7, 2020. 
Vanda Felbab-Brown, “What Coronavirus Means for Online Fraud, Forced Sex, Drug Smuggling 
and Wildlife  Trafficking,” Lawfare, April 3, 2020. 
Cara Anna, “Extremists See Global Chaos from Virus As An Opportunity,” Associated Press, 
April 2, 2020. 
U.S. Attention to International Issues Other than COVID-19 
David Ignatius, “The Rest of the World Is Taking Advantage of a Distracted America,” 
Washington Post, October 6, 2020. 
David E. Sanger, Eric Schmitt and Edward Wong, “As Virus Toll Preoccupies U.S., Rivals Test 
Limits of American Power,” New York Times, June 1 (updated June 2), 2020. 
James Jay Carafano, “Amid Coronavirus, Global Chal enges Remain for U.S.—Keep Eye on 
These 3 Hot Spots,” Heritage Foundation, May 20, 2020. 
Kathrin Hil e,  “Taiwan Fears Uptick in Military Threat from China in Wake of Coronavirus,” 
Financial Times, May 18, 2020. 
Steven Erlanger, “Wil   the Coronavirus Crisis Trump the Climate Crisis?” New York Times, May 
9 (updated May 11), 2020. 
Steve Mollman, “China’s South China Sea Plan Unfolds Regardless of the Coronavirus,” Quartz, 
May 9, 2020. 
Thomas Spoehr, “U.S. Can’t Afford to Take Its Eye off the Bal  As National Threats Loom 
Beyond COVID-19,” Heritage Foundation, May 8, 2020. 
Arjun Kapur, “Scotland Launched an Invasion During the Black Death. Does History Tel  China 
to Attack Taiwan?” National Interest, May 2, 2020. 
Con Coughlin, “China Exploiting the Coronavirus Pandemic to Expand in Asia,” Gatestone 
Institute, April 30, 2020. 
Corinne Redfern, “The Pandemic’s Hidden Human Trafficking Crisis, The Coronavirus Has 
Created More People Vulnerable  to Exploitation by Traffickers—and Revealed the World’s 
Unpreparedness to Protect Them,” Foreign Policy, April 30, 2020. 
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
Paul Haenle,  “Security Concerns in Asia-Pacific Escalate Amid Coronavirus Scramble, While the 
Trump Administration Is Consumed with the Coronavirus, China and North Korea Are Seizing 
the Moment for Strategic Advantage,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, April 29, 
2020. 
Bertil  Lintner, “Time May Be Ripe for China to Invade Taiwan, Pandemic Has Left a US Security 
Vacuum Around the Self-Governing Island China Has Oft-Vowed to ‘Reincorporate’ with the 
Mainland,” Asia Times, April  28, 2020. 
Victor Davis Hanson, “Pandemic Only 1 of America’s Security Concerns,” Daily Signal, April 
23, 2020. 
Emily Estel e, “Eyes on the Other Global Crises,” Real Clear World, April  21, 2020. 
Yew Lun Tian and Ben Blanchard, “China Rattles Sabres as World Battles Coronavirus 
Pandemic,” Reuters, April  21, 2020. 
Gordon Lubold and Dion Nissenbaum, “With Trump Facing Virus Crisis, U.S. Warns Rivals Not 
to Seek Advantage,” Wall Street Journal, April  20, 2020. 
El en Mitchel ,  “Foreign Powers Test US Defenses Amid Coronavirus Pandemic,” The Hill, April 
19, 2020. 
Karen DeYoung, “Foreign Policy Chal enges Persist for a Distracted U.S. in the Midst of 
Pandemic,” Washington Post, April 10, 2020. 
Sylvie Lanteaume (Agence France-Presse), “Hit by Virus, Pentagon Warns Enemies: Don’t Test 
Us,” Yahoo News, April  10, 2020. 
“With the world distracted, China intimidates Taiwan,” Economist, April 8, 2020. (This article 
does not list an author.) 
Role of Congress 
Daniel P. Vajdich,  “Congress Has Been AWOL on U.S. Coronavirus Diplomacy, The Invisibility 
and Silence of Congress Is Another Reason for America’s Shocking Abdication of Global 
Leadership,” Foreign Policy, May 22, 2020. 
George Ingram and Jeffrey L. Sturchio, “How Congress Can Address the International 
Dimensions of the COVID-19 Response,” Brookings Institution, April 15, 2020. 
Rob Berschinski and Benjamin  Haas, “How Congress Can Save Lives, Protect Rights, and Exert 
U.S. Leadership Global y  in Response to Coronavirus,” Just Security, April  8, 2020. 
Robbie Gramer and Jack Detsch, “Pandemic Stymies Congressional Check on Trump’s Foreign 
Policy,” Foreign Policy, April  8, 2020. 
 
 
Author Information 
 
Ronald O'Rourke 
  Kathleen J. McInnis 
Specialist in Naval Affairs  
Specialist in International Security 
    
    
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COVID-19: Potential Implications for International Security Environment 
 
 
Acknowledgments 
A third original coauthor of this report was Michael Moodie, who was Assistant Director of the Foreign 
Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division of CRS and a Senior Specialist in Foreign Affairs, Defense , and 
Trade until his retirement from CRS in December 2020. 
 
Disclaimer 
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan 
shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and 
under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should n ot be relied upon for purposes other 
than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in 
connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not 
subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in 
its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or 
material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to 
copy or otherwise use copyrighted material. 
 
Congressional Research Service  
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