Complex Risks of COVID-19 Pandemic: Possible Metamorphization of National into Cosmopolitan Sustainable Development

Sergey A. Kravchenko
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Sergey A. Kravchenko: Department of Sociology, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, MGIMO-University, MFA of Russia, Prosp. Vernadskogo, 76, 119454 Moscow, Russia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-11

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyze the complex risks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and their nonlinear influence on sustainable development. In the context of this global pandemic, this article shows the limits of “thinking national” and argues that metamorphization of national to cosmopolitan sustainable development is possible on the basis of overcoming national egoism with cosmopolitan survival. The article builds on the “the theory of metamorphosis” proposed by U. Beck (2010). Phenomena are analyzed through the effects of the “arrow of time” (I. Prigogine) and “methodological cosmopolitanism”. The main results are as follows: The risks of COVID-19 have mixed effects on sustainable development. On the one hand, they undermine the traditional approaches towards social security and sustainability, but on the other hand, there is a chance of establishing cosmopolitan medical cooperation in the struggle against viruses by passing from national biopolitics and national structures of sustainable development to cosmopolitan (global concerted) counterparts. The conclusion is drawn that in order to realize this possibility, it is necessary to re-discover the existing visions of sustainable development while taking into consideration the common struggle of nations against epidemics.

Keywords: complex risk; COVID-19; sustainable development; nonlinearity; “arrow of time”; biopolitics; metamorphization; cosmopolitanism; humanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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