The coronavirus pandemic: an explosive global catastrophe

Abstract

The article outlines a political economy of the coronavirus pandemic. In line with Fernand Braudel, the plague is interpreted as an “external blow” that refers to long-standing structures. Behind the pandemic and the recession that follows, lies a deep crisis. This is a consequence of the economic-ecologic pincer grip that have trapped the societies of the Global North. This new censorship cannot be understood without taking into account the financial crash of 2007-2009 and the political interregnum of the post-crisis years. According to my thesis, the pandemic and the recession that follows are repulsive effects of a hyperglobalization that has progressively undermined its own budgets. However, a coronavirus determinism cannot be affirmed. The pandemic will not spontaneously lead to a “Build Back Better”. A change of course of this type requires credible and clearly delineated alternatives, and, above all, social forces and political actors who can carry out the changes. Therefore, with general appeals to elites, not much is accomplished. Instead, an accurate analysis of the trend toward Bonapartist democracies that block the sustainability revolution is suggested here. The article explores the difficulties of a public sociology and expresses itself in favor of a new institutional order characterized by economic democracy and the creation of transformation councils.