The role of international actors in promoting the International Liberal Order in times of Covid-19

Abstract

What does the current hegemonic order mean? What actors are involved? How has the COVID-19 pandemic influenced them? In 2020, international organizations, countries, individuals, and communities were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, challenging the current hegemonic order. Therefore, it is necessary to use a qualitative methodology that reviews Robert Cox's concept of hegemony to understand how, after the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a liberal international order led by the United States was implanted. This obtains, as a result, through recent research, how the operation of that order has changed due to the spread of COVID-19, hand in hand with the emergence of new actors with nationalist policies, which have been solidified thanks to the pandemic. It is convenient to highlight nationalist ideologies promoted by China as well as the adoption of authoritarian policies by countries that have opposed their implementation. They are all part of the group that challenges the current hegemony. Furthermore, the existence of discourses that produce a predominance has been strengthened during the pandemic. This provokes statements about possible hegemonic producers during confinement under a fragmentation of productive power, which are opposed to each other. Therefore, in response to the question, the analysis of all these elements provides a future look at the actors who will lead the global hegemonic order and who will replace the existing ones.