INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE TIME OF CORONA

The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic vary with level of analysis: one the lower level of individual transactions, consequences may be severe; on the intermediate level the pandemic will affect trade and disrupt commodity chains; on the level of the international system, consequences will be minimal - the pandemic may speed up changes that are already under way, but hardly alter the direction of major trajectories. To explore the likely impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on international relations, this essay takes as its vantage point Joseph Nye's image of the three-boarded chess-game.