The COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Socio-Economic and Geopolitical Implications

In “The COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Socio-Economic and Geopolitical Implications,” Domitilla Sagramoso analyzes how the pandemic accelerated global instability, producing not only economic fallout but also political realignments. She documents the dramatic economic contraction—marked by rising unemployment, collapsing GDPs, and widespread financial loss—as a trigger for social unrest and governmental failure. Lockdowns disrupted basic economic and civic life, intensifying discontent and fueling mass movements such as Black Lives Matter. In Russia, Sagramoso notes, President Vladimir Putin leveraged the crisis to push through constitutional amendments extending his rule to 2036, a move that was legally ratified but politically fraught. Despite state efforts to contain the damage, Russia suffered its steepest drop in crude oil output since 1994, revealing the limits of state control in a globalized economic system under pressure.

Sagramoso frames COVID-19 not merely as a public health emergency but as a geopolitical narrative rupture—an event that reconfigures power structures and legitimizing discourses. She tracks how the United States’ withdrawal from major arms control treaties (INF, Arms Trade Treaty, Open Skies) destabilized established diplomatic frameworks, fostering a more confrontational climate. In response, China and Russia have drawn closer, united in resisting Western-backed democratic uprisings and attempting to stabilize their regimes through mutual strategic alignment. Yet this tenuous equilibrium, she warns, risks devolving into direct conflict, especially between the U.S. and China. Within this context, pandemic storytelling becomes a tool of political strategy: authoritarian regimes, in particular, use the crisis to recast their authority, justify exceptional measures, and reshape public perception. Sagramoso’s analysis demonstrates how the pandemic functions both as real-world disruption and as narrative apparatus for renegotiating sovereignty, legitimacy, and international order.