This article examines a series of paradoxes that have rendered the international legal order’s mechanisms for collective action powerless precisely when they are most needed to fight COVID-19. The “patriotism paradox” is that disengagement from the international legal order weakens rather than strengthens state sovereignty. The “border paradox” is that securing domestic populations by excluding non-citizens, in the absence of accompanying regulatory mechanisms to secure adherence to internal health measures, accelerates viral spread among citizens. The “equality paradox” is that while pandemics pose an equal threat to all people, their impacts compound existing inequalities.
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Danchin, Farrall, Rana, & Saunders: The Pandemic Paradox in International Law
Peter Danchin (Univ. of Maryland - Law), Jeremy Farrall (Australian National Univ. - Law), Shruti Rana (Indiana Univ., Bloomington - Global and International Studies), & Imogen Saunders (Australian National Univ. - Law) have posted The Pandemic Paradox in International Law (American Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract: