Description
For far too long, International Relations has taken people for granted. The discipline is notoriously biased in favour of status quo and boringly state-centric. The preoccupation with a strategic rationale has resulted in the utter neglect of the people, especially the marginalised sections of society. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its continuing aftermath has set the alarm bells ringing. Theoretically, International Relations has been muted and indifferent to a number of catastrophes—be it Rwanda, Sri Lanka or Myanmar. Strategically, inaction has been normalised; foreign policy decisions privilege ‘national interest’ to the exclusion of the ‘other’. This is no longer the case. When the disaster strikes at the doorsteps of all of us in the form of a pandemic, we understand the limits of power, capabilities, security and other such perennial obsessions of International Relations.The world is far more fragile and precarious than we had imagined and theorised from the comfort zone of ivory towers. The marginalised are the most affected and teetering on the brink of penury. Can the world survive and return to normalcy? Can the marginalised be ever free and secure? Are we hearing the clarion call for privileging the standpoint of the marginalised?
