Violence and Truth in 2022’s Epoch End: COVID-19 and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine in the World Historical Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15678/PG.2022.61.3.01Keywords:
solidarity, pandemic, COVID-19, war, Russia, Ukraine, sociologyAbstract
Objective: In this research article, I seek to explain the cultural logics and practices of narratives of global transformations and thereby demonstrate the significance of articulation and rearticulation in their constitution. I focus on cultural politics from within narratives – through the fall of 2022 – organising our sense of the COVID-19 pandemic on the one hand, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the other. Research Design & Methods: This is a theoretical paper, with references to numerous Web articles, newspapaer articles, and some research volumes. Findings: I conclude by reflecting on the ways in which these narratives can be rearticulated in order to develop a more global solidarity in the epoch end’s policy and practice. Implications/Recommendations: This paper is relevant to the research into further interactions between wars and epidemics, as well as for researching the consequences of the Russian invasion into Ukraine. Contribution/Value Added: This paper is original in presenting an insight into the connection between the COVID-19 pandemic and the violence taking place in Ukraine as of February 24th, 2022. Type of article: theoretical article JEL classification: I1 and Z1Downloads
References
Abramowitz, M. J., Applebaum, A., Asunka, J., Malloch-Brown, M. & Quarcoo, A. (2021). After the Summit for Democracy. Panel Discussion, Open Society Foundations, December 15.
Bass, E. (2022, June 1). Lesons for Covid from the Most Successful Global Health Campaign. The New York Times.
Bello, W. (2021, May 3). The West Has Been Hoarding More than Vaccines. The New York Times.
Besteman, C. (2020). Militarized Global Apartheid. Duke University Press.
Blake, P., & Wadhwa, D. (2020). 2020 in Review: The Impact of Covid-19 in 12 Charts. World Bank Voices. https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/2020-year-review-impact-covid-19-12-charts
Blinken, A. (2022, March 23). “War Crimes by Russia’s Forces in Ukraine” Press Statement, US Department of State. Available at: https://www.state.gov/war-crimes-by-russias-forces-in-ukraine/ (accessed: 17.08.2022).
Bokat-Lindell, S. (2022, August 24). Can the CDC Save Itself? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/opinion/cdc-reorganization-covid-monkeypox.html
Brooks, D. (2022, April 8). Globalization Is Over: The Global Culture Wars Have Begun. The New York Times.
Brulle, R. J. (2000). “Denialism: Organized Opposition to Climate Change Action in the United States”. In D. Konisky (Ed.), Handbook of US Environmental Policy (pp. 328–341). Elgar.
Calhoun, C. (1997). Nationalism. Open University Press.
Chen, Yu-Jie (2022, August 5). I’m Taiwanese and I Want to Thank Nancy Pelosi. The New York Times.
Crowley, M., & Kanno-Yongs, Z. (2021, December 9). Biden Rallies Global Democracies as US Hits a Rough Patch. The New York Times.
Crutzen, P., & Stoermer, E. (2000). The Anthropocene. Global Change Newsletter, 41, 17–18. Available at: http://www.igbp.net/download/18.316f18321323470177580001401/1376383088452/NL41.pdf (accessed: 19.09.2022).
Davis, J., & Love, T. P. (n.d.) Intersecting matters: #GeorgeFloyd and #COVID19. First Monday. https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/download/12581/10624
Dawsey, J. (2021, February 1). Poor Handling of Virus Cost Trump His Reelection, Campaign Autopsy Reveals. Washington Post.
Downie, A. (2022, July 27). Outrage in Brazil as Jair Bolsonaro Avoids Five Charges Related to Covid Response. The Guardian.
Economy, E. (n.d.) Xi Jinping’s New World Order: Can China Remake the International System. Foreign Affairs. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2021-12-09/xi-jinpings-new-world-order
Editorial Board (2022a, July 29). Russia Is Making Heaps of Money from Oil but There is a Way to Stop That. The New York Times
Editorial Board (2022b, April 1). Putin Knows What He Is Doing with Ukraine’s Refugees: This is the World’s Big Test. The New York Times.
James, K. G. (2021). Economics and the climate catastrophe. Globalizations, 18(7), 1117–1122. DOI: 10.1080/14747731.2020.1807858
Galvin, R. (2020.) Power, Evil and Resistance in Social Structure: A Sociology for Energy Research in Climate Emergency. Energy Research & Social Science, 61, available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221462961930876X (accessed: 16.09.2022).
Garde, D. (2021, May 18). How Ashish Jha Became Network TV’s Everyman’s Expert on Covid. Stat News. https://www.statnews.com/2021/05/18/how-ashish-jha-became-network-tvs-everyman-expert-on-covid/
Goldstein, L. (2022). China-Russia Relations in the Wake of the War in Ukraine. Global Asia. https://www.globalasia.org/v17no1/feature/china-russia-relations-in-the-wake-of-the-war-in-ukraine_lyle-goldstein
Gonzales, R. J., Gusterson, H., & Houtman, G. (Eds.) (2019). Militarization: A Reader. Duke University Press.
Gonzalves, G. (2022, August 22). Anthony Fauci’s Retirement Marks the End of an Era. The New York Times.
Harlan, Ch., & Zakowiecki, P. (2022, April 13). Poland Builds a Border Wall Even as it Welcomes Ukrainian Refugees. The New York Times.
Harshe, R. (n.d.) The Russo-Ukraine War: The African States’ Response to Russian Imperialism. Observer Research Foundation. https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/african-states-response-to-russianimperialism/
Hook, K. (2022, July 28). Why Russia’s War in Ukraine is Genocide. Foreign Affairs. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/why-russias-war-ukraine-genocide
Hobsbawm, E. (1996). The Age of Revolution: 1789–1848. Vintage.
Jones, B. (2022, June 2). The Pollution from Russia’s War Will Poison Ukraine for Decades. Vox.
Kassymbekova, B., & Marat, E. (2022, April 27). Time to Question Russia’s Imperial Innocence. Ponars Eurasia. https://www.ponarseurasia.org/time-to-question-russias-imperial-innocence/
Kennedy, M. D. (2015). Globalizing Knowledge: Intellectuals, Universities and Publics in Transformation. Stanford University Press.
Kennedy, M. D. (2002). Cultural Formations of Postcommunism: Emancipation, Transition, Nation and War. University of Minnesota Press.
Krastev, I. (2022, February 27). We Are All Living in Vladimir Putin’s World Now. The New York Times.
Lo, B. (2022). Turning Point? Putin, Xi and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Lowy Institute for International Policy. https://apo.org.au/node/317995 May 25.
Lo, Ming-Cheng (2021). How Taiwan’s Precautionary Approach Contained Covid-19. Contexts, 19(4), 18–21.
Malloch-Brown, M. (2022, July 4). The World Needs More than Crumbs from the G-7 Table. The New York Times
Menendez, B. (2022, August 3). This Is How We Will Stand with Taiwan. The New York Times
Miller, G. W. (2021, December 21). Painfully Reminds Us of Each Tombstone: RI Reaches Grim Milestone of 3,000 Covid Deaths. The Providence Journal
Mills, C. W. (1958). The Causes of World War III. Simon and Schuster.
Morris, A. (2021, February 3). From the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter. Scientific American.
Observer Research Foundation (n.d.) The Ukraine Crisis: Course and Causes of the Conflict. https://www.orfonline.org/series/the-ukraine-crisis-cause-and-course-of-the-conflict/
OECD (n.d.) Environmental Impacts of the War in Ukraine and Prospects for a Green Reconstruction.
OECD Policy Responses. https://www.oecd.org/ukraine-hub/policy-responses/environmental-impactsof-the-war-in-ukraine-and-prospects-for-a-green-reconstruction-9e86d691/
Our World in Data. (2022). https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-deaths-income.
Paulsson, L. (2022, June 14). The War in Ukraine Is Speeding Ukraine’s Pivot Toward Renewables. Washington Post.
Quammen, D. (2022, August 10). Science Is Still in a Race Against the Coronavirus. The New York Times.
Polyakova, A., Lucas, E., Lo, B., Lamond, J., & Speranza, L. (2022, May 24). What Does Europe Look Like 3–7 Years After Russia’s War in Ukraine. CEPA https://cepa.org/what-does-europe-look-like-3-7-yearsafter-russias-war-in-ukraine/
Putin, V. (2021, July 12). On the Historical Unity of Ukrainians and Russians. President of Russia. http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181
RFE/RL. (2022, May 19). Blinken Accuses Russia of Blocking Exports of Ukrainian Grain, Worsening Food Crisis. RFE/RL. https://www.rferl.org/a/blinken-grain-russia-ukraine-food-weapon/31858755.html
Rutz, C., Loretto, M. C., Bates, A. E, Davidson, S. C., Duarte, C. M., Jetz, W., et al. (2020). Covid-19 Lockdown Allows Researers to Quantify the Effects of Human Activity on Wildlife. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 4(9), 1156–1159. doi:10.1038/s41559-020-1237-z. PMID 32572222. S2CID 219976980.
Santora, M., Baker, P., & Perez-Pena, R. (2022, August 3). About a Third of Ukraine’s Population Has Been Forced from Their Homes by Russia’s Onslaught. The New York Times
Schwirtz, M., Varenikova, M., & Gladstone, R. (2022, February 21). Putin Calls Ukrainian Statehood a Fiction. History Suggests Otherwise. The New York Times
Sewell, W. (2005). Logics of History: Social Theory and Social Transformations. University of Chicago Press.
Singh, K. D. (2021, September 14). As India’s Lethal Covid Wave Neared, Politics Overrode Science. The New York Times
Seymour, R. (2022, August 1). The Fantasy of Brexit Britain is Over. The New York Times
Shryock, R. (2022, August 19). For Former Rebel in West Africa, Her Allegiance Still Lies with Russia. The New York Times
Sloterdijk, P. (2018). What Happened in the Twentieth Century? Towards a Critique of Extremist Reason. Polity Press.
Snowden, F. M. (2008). Emerging and Reemerging Diseases, a Historical Perspective. Immunological Reviews, 225(1), 9–26.
Sokov, N. (2022, March 24). Could WMD Be Used in the War in Ukraine. Pass Blue. https://www.passblue.com/2022/03/24/could-wmd-be-used-in-the-war-in-ukraine/
Stringer, D. (n.d.) The Worst of Global Energy Crisis May Still Be Ahead. Bloomberg News
Stuart, D., Gunderson, R., & Petersen, B. (2020). The Climate Crisis as a Catalyst for Emancipatory Transformation: An Examination of the Possible. International Sociology, 35(4), 433–456.
Szczerski, K. (2022, February 28). Wojna na Ukrainie. Wystąpienie Szczerskiego przed ONZ. “Chcę oddać hołd tej kobiecie”. Wprost
Timsit, A. (2022, February 10). Half the World is Vaccinated, but the Global Divide is Stark, Experts Say. The Washington Post
Tisdall, S. (2022, May 21). Apocalypse Now? The Alarming Effects of the Global Food Crisis. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/21/apocalypse-now-the-alarming-effects-of-the-globalfood-crisis
Tufekci, Z. (2021, October 15). The Unvaccinated May Not Be Who You Think. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/opinion/covid-vaccines-unvaccinated.html
United Nations. (2020, December 24). The Virus that Shut Down the World: 2020, a Year Like No Other. UN News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/12/1080702 Accessed August 4, 2022.
United Nations. (n.d.) Covid to Slash Global Economic Output by $8.5 Trillion over Next Two Years. Department of Social and Economic Affairs. https://www.un.org/en/desa/covid-19-slash-global-economicoutput-85-trillion-over-next-two-years
United Nations. (n.d.) World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2022. Department of Social and Economic Affairs. https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/world-economic-situationand-prospects-as-of-mid-2022/
Wallace-Wells, D. (2022, August 3). We Need to Protect Ourselves from the Climate-related Calamities That Have Unfolded This Year. The New York Times
Wallace-Wells, D. (2022a, August 10). Europe’s Energy Crisis May Get A Lot Worse. The New York Times
Westad, O. A. (2022, April 5). The Next Sino-Russian Split? Foreign Affairs. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/east-asia/2022-04-05/next-sino-russian-split
Wolf-Meyer, M. (2019). Theory for the World to Come: Speculative Fiction and Apocalyptic Anthropology. University of Minnesota Press.
Walsh, D. (2022, August 1). Ukraine Ships Grain at Last. The New York Times
Song, E., & Sampson, A. (2022, March 22). Ukraine War and Pandemic Force Nations to Retreat from Globalization. The New York Times
World Bank. (n.d.) World Development Report. World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2022/brief/chapter-1-introduction-the-economic-impacts-of-the-covid-19-crisis
World Food Programme. (2022, June 24). War in Ukraine Drives Global Food Crisis. World Food Programme. https://www.wfp.org/publications/war-ukraine-drives-global-food-crisis
Żaryn, S. (2022, June 17). Poland Was, and Is, Right about Russia. The Critic. https://thecritic.co.uk/poland-was-and-is-right-about-russia/
Downloads
Published
Versions
- 2022-12-23 (2)
- 2023-05-23 (1)
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Open Access, licence: CC-BY 4.0
