Editorial: Whither globalization and health in an era of geopolitical uncertainty?

Ronald Labonté; Greg Martin; Katerini T Storeng

doi:10.1186/s12992-022-00881-x

Editorial: Whither globalization and health in an era of geopolitical uncertainty?

Global Health. 2022 Oct 18;18(1):87. doi: 10.1186/s12992-022-00881-x.

Authors

Ronald Labonté¹, Greg Martin², Katerini T Storeng³

Affiliations

¹ University of Ottawa, 600 Peter Morand Cres, K1G 5Z3, Ottawa, ON, Canada. rlabonte@uottawa.ca.
² Health Protection Surveillance Centre, 25-27 Gardiner Street Middle, Mountjoy, D01 A4A3, Dublin, Ireland.
³ Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, Sandakerveien 130Bygg, 20484, Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

Globalization has been declared dead or dying for many years, although recently, the number of voices declaring it 'over' has swelled [1]. As editors of a journal interrogating how globalization affects health, we confront the question: Have the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's war against Ukraine, a breakdown in multilateralism, and the risk of a return to the stagflation of the 1970s finally sounded a death knell for the research and scholarship we have been publishing in the journal's 20-year history? We think not and argue below why, in our post-pandemic fractured and fractious era, it is vitally important to retain a focus on this messy construct short-handed as 'globalization.'

Keywords: COVID-19; Climate Change; Globalization; Governance; Neoliberalism; Pandemic; Sustainable development goals.

Publication types

Editorial

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Humans
Internationality
Pandemics* / prevention & control
Publishing
Uncertainty