The decline of American leadership is said to be directly responsible for national governments’ efforts to go it alone in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this trend was especially salient under the Trump administration, it has not entirely disappeared with the arrival of President Joe Biden. According to Robert Kaplan, China and Russia have redefined great power competition and the classical/Western meaning of war, making the response of the West, i.e., the United States, all the more important. Arguing that the pandemic has created a global consciousness, Kaplan recommends that the West respond by strengthening its alliances. With this in mind, the second panel zeroes in on the following question: how do we cooperate with our rivals in a post-pandemic context? While the pandemic has intensified many rivalries, the fact remains that cooperation, even with rivals, is necessary to address the challenges and threats posed by the return of great power competition and the threat posed by revisionist states such as Iran.
Moderated by Jonathan Paquin (Université Laval)
Srdjan Vucetic (Université d’Ottawa)
Zachary Paikin (Centre for European Policy Studies)
Gaëlle Rivard-Piché (Recherche et développement pour la
défense Canada)
M-Gen Huddleston (Chief of Staff – Cdn Joint Operations
Comd at RCAF)
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