The Pandemic, the Economy, and Environmental Change: Six Implications for the Study of International Political Economy

Abstract

What is the relationship between the global COVID-19 pandemic, the economic recession that followed in its wake, and the ongoing degradation of the global environment? What are key takeaways from this relationship for scholars of international political economy? This article identifies a trialectical relationship between these three forces, addresses ways that the trialectic presents moments of both continuity and change in the trajectory of the global political economy, and invokes Arundhati Roy’s concept of “the pandemic as portal” to foreground the need for scholars of international political economy to tease out and promote new political economic ideals that improve humanity’s resilience to future destabilization risks.