The Coronavirus Crisis and Its Teachings

Dr Roland Benedikter is Research Professor of Multidisciplinary Political Analysis in residence at the University of Wroclaw, Poland, Co-Head of the Center for Advanced Studies of Eurac Research, Autonomous Province of South Tyrol, Italy, and Member of the Future Circle of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Berlin. Dr Karim Fathi is a lecturer and policy advisor with focus on Resilience Studies and Interdisciplinary Communication. He is Member of the Future Circle of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and advises authorities, NGO’s and companies in the field of Multi-Resilience.

Foreword

Jan Nederveen Pieterse


Preface


Acknowledgements


List of Figures


Overview and Summary


part 1

The Coronavirus Crisis

1 Introduction “Do Nothing” or, an Epochal Crisis


2 Systemic Unpreparedness Inducing a Variety of Psychological Reactions


3 The Branches and Social Strata Hardest Hit A List to Be Carefully Remembered for the Next Systemic Rupture


4 Were Nature and the Environment “Winners” of the Crisis? Disputed “Improvements” and Their Flip Sides


5 Children and Relationships


6 Labour and the Economy “Generation Corona”


7 Corona and Re-Globalisation 1 Sharpening Awareness about the Differences between Political Systems and Their Growing Asymmetries


8 A Battle for Values and Transformation Not Confined to Bilateral Competition, but Spanning the Globe


9 Unprecedented Penetrative Depth Uplifting Technology, Changing Sexuality, Questioning Science?


10 Corona and Re-Globalisation 2 Creating Conscience for National and International Reforms


11 Intellectual Rhetoric between Cheap “Humanistic” Appeal and Kitsch


12 “Humanised” Technology Instead of a New Humanism?


13 A Boost to “Post-human Hybrid Intelligence” Such as Biological Espionage and Sentiment Analysis?


14 Striking a Balance Was Corona a Watershed for Western Humanism and the Basic Rationality of the Enlightenment?


15 The Vast Variety of Political Instrumentalisations


16 Three More Far-reaching Aspects within Global Democracies and Open Societies Confirmation Bias, “Republican” Turn and Re-Globalisation Drive




part 2

The Simultaneousness of Local, National and Global Effects

17 An Unprecedented Crisis Accelerating the (Temporary?) Rupture of Advanced Life Patterns – Including Gender Role Models in Democracies


18 “Unsocial Sociability” and the Re-shaping of the Global Order Anthropology and Politics Intertwined


19 Medical Diplomacy, or: The Great Divide of Principles over and after Corona More “Do It Alone” – or More Cooperation?


20 Don’t Forget the Bizarre, the Surreal and the Perfidious From Mona Lisa to Sharon Stone and Global Terror


21 Coronavirus Crisis Social Psychology Between Disorientation, Infodemic and the Need to Understand


22 Conspiracy Theories Misusing the Crisis for Legitimating the Absurd in Times of “Fake News”


23 The Perspective The Real Question is Not about covid-19, but about “the World after”




part 3

The Corona Challenge: Multi-Resilience for an Interconnected World Ridden by Crisis Bundles

24 In Search of Examples of Efficient Resilience From the Evolutionary Teachings of Bats to Regional Self-administration within Political Autonomies to a “Flexible” Handling of Constitutions


25 Crisis Resistance in the Face of Corona and in Anticipation of Potential Future Pandemics A Short Overview of Different Options of Socio-political Responses


26 The Primordial Path to Follow Enhancing Resilience. Basic Philosophical Assumptions and Their Implications for Crisis-policy Design


27 Revisioning the Concept of Resilience A Necessary Step (Not Only) after Corona


28 Progressing from Resilience to Multi-resilience Two Basic Approaches

28.1 Prerequisites: Relevant Criteria


28.2 Complexify: Multi-resilience in a Systemic Perspective


28.3 Simplify: Multi-resilience in an Action-oriented Perspective




29 Five Principles of Multi-resilience

29.1 Principle 1: Fostering Individual Resilience


29.2 Principle 2: Integrating Centralised and Decentralised Decision-making and Implementation


29.3 Principle 3: Problem-solving Practices with Knowns and Unknowns


29.4 Principle 4: Supporting and Enhancing Collective Intelligence through Participatory and Cross-sectoral Knowledge Management and Integration


29.5 Principle 5: Fostering “Resilience Culture” by Stimulating and Facilitating Collective Reasoning and Cohesion




30 Summary. Multi-resilience A Crucial Topic to Shape “Globalisation 2.0”




part 4

Requirements for a Post-Corona World

31 The Corona Effect and “Diseasescape” Towards Weaker, but More Realistic Globalisation and Transnationalisation?


32 The Uncertainty about the Future of covid-19 Short-term Scenarios versus Big-picture Trends


33 Technological Requirements Six Trends

33.1 Remote Working


33.2 eLearning


33.3 Telehealth


33.4 E-commerce and On-demand Economy


33.5 Automatisation


33.6 Increasing Use of Immersive Technologies




34 Towards a Post-Corona World Seven Upcoming Conflict Lines Open Societies Should Prepare for

34.1 Nationalism versus Globalism


34.2 Freedom versus Safety


34.3 Professionalism versus Populism


34.4 Class: Rich versus Poor


34.5 Ethnicity (Racism)


34.6 Gender


34.7 Generation: Young versus Old




35 The Post-Corona World Potentials and Visions for a “Better Globalised” International System

35.1 Idea Potentials: Policy-relevant Contributions by Intellectuals, Ecologists and Futurists


35.2 Universal Basic Income as a Driver towards Better Socio-economic Resilience?


35.3 Post-Growth and Degrowth as Responses to the Economic and Ecological Challenges in a Post-Corona World?




part 5

Post-Corona Policy Design

36 Chances and Limits of Resilience The Development Paradox and the Increasing Danger of Man-made Disasters with Multi-sectoral Side Effects


37 Towards a Broader and More Integrated Policy of Future Preparedness Contributions from Selected Guiding Concepts

37.1 A Brief Outline of Three Contemporary Coping Concepts: Development, Sustainability, Resilience


37.2 Development versus Sustainability versus Resilience: Similarities, Fault Lines and Potential (Realistic) Complementarities


37.3 Collective Wisdom as the Missing Connecting Principle towards Multi-Resilience?




38 Fostering Local, National and International Paths towards Multi-resilience Leverage Points for Interrelated Social Change Bottom-up and Top-down

38.1 Education Programs for Individual Resilience


38.2 Bottom-up Transformational Impulses via Building Critical Masses for Positive Change


38.3 Experimental Prototyping Projects


38.4 Building Bridges between Subsystems


38.5 Methods of Communicative Complexity Management


38.6 Towards the Integration of Standards?




part 6

Recommendations for a Multi-Resilient Post-Corona World

39 “Health Terror”? Towards an Adequate Framework for a Post-Corona Socio-political Philosophy “Resistance” and Power Critique Will Not Suffice


40 Seven Strategic Recommendations for Pro-positive Multi-resilient Policymaking in the Post-Corona World of Open Societies

40.1 Recommendation 1: Include Competency Development to Become a Crucial Part of the Education System


40.2 Recommendation 2: Strengthen European-Western Simulation Methodology and Strategic Foresight


40.3 Recommendation 3: Strengthen Future Anticipation Capacities and (Potentially) Their Integration. From the Futures Cone and the Futures Diamond to Futures Literacy


40.4 Recommendation 4: Improve Communication through “Complexity Workers”


40.5 Recommendation 5: Refine Multi-level Governance


40.6 Recommendation 6: Expand and Improve International Cooperation


40.7 Recommendation 7: Sharpen Global “Crisis Automatisms” and Interconnected Responsibility Patterns on the Way to Global Governance




41 Recommendations for Global Post-Corona Policymaking in an Increasingly Multipolar World

41.1 Five Policy Trajectories Proposed by the University of the United Nations – Leading to the Key Concept of “Futures Literacy”


41.2 The Forgotten Perspective: Instilling a More Encompassing and Trans-systemic Concept of Health and Healing?




part 7

Outlook. The Coronavirus Legacy: A “New World” Ahead – or back to Business as Usual?

42 The (Productively) Ambiguous Post-Corona Vision A “New World” Ahead?


43 “Corona Positivism” The Global Pandemic as an Unprecedented “Chance” for Radical Transformation – or Even as the Epochal Example for What (Social) Art Should Achieve?


44 Corona as a Driver of Re-globalisation towards Post-Corona Globalisation


45 A Post-Corona Core Task Re-positioning the Open Systems of Europe and the West by the Means of Multi-resilience


46 An End to Geopolitical Rivalry? Not Likely – Despite Some Positive Signals


47 Back to Business as Usual - Systemic Improvements at the “Evo-devo” Interface?


48 Integrating the Obvious Post-Corona, Multi-Resilience and “Futures Literacy”: “Bring Together What belongs Together”


49 Corona and Emerging New Responsibility Patterns


50 Outlook: A Post-Corona World in the Making Towards Difficult, but Feasible Innovation – for the Sake of a More Pro-positive Re-globalisation


 Afterword

Manfred B. Steger




Bibliographic References


Index