This archive report was first published on 14 May 2020.
As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, a question has emerged: can countries contain the spread of the disease through cooperation or isolationism?
On one hand, some argue that the pandemic is a global health crisis that requires a collective response. With over 187 countries and territories affected, it would be foolish for any country to think it can go it alone and succeed in stemming the tide of the pandemic.
On the other hand, others contend that countries are unique and have different strengths, weaknesses, and interests. This has led to a situation where each country is trying to protect itself by extending its physical distancing measures to include closing its doors to the rest of the world.
The pandemic has exposed the aspirations and competition for world domination between some countries, particularly the US and China. The US President, Donald Trump, has accused China of exporting the coronavirus, while China has denied the allegations.
Even within the European Union, one of the oldest regional blocs, the pandemic has rattled the confidence of its member states' capacity to successfully coordinate their war against the pandemic. The same is true for African countries, which have been slow to respond to the crisis.
On May 12, 2020, the heads of state of the East African Community (EAC) held a video summit to discuss the efforts of the member states in containing the pandemic and to find better ways to coordinate these efforts as a region. However, it took them long to hold a high-profile meeting, despite the hopes of many citizens in the region that the EAC would coordinate the efforts of member states to leverage their different strengths against the impact of the virus.
There are two possible scenarios explaining this lack of coordination. One is that some countries, like Tanzania and Burundi, have defied the disease and may not have been interested in public health approaches. The second scenario is that even countries that believe in multilateralism wanted to control the outflow of life-saving medical supplies to focus on their own citizens first.
Even if we assume that Africa has seen the worst of the pandemic, the impact of emergency response measures on livelihoods, national economies, peace efforts, and democratic spaces has been immense and will last for quite some time. African countries will need greater joint efforts, beyond containing coronavirus, to resolve the many intractable problems that have always plagued African economies.
