Covid-19: Politics Of Knowledge, Public Health And The World Order
Geography and You|Issue 146, 2020
In the present era of a knowledge society, the world order will be shaped more than ever before by the politics of knowledge. In the post-CoVId world, public health knowledge is likely to be a significant contributor. This article briefly discusses the various contemporary public health approaches evident within the discipline: global health, community medicine and critical public health. Then it goes on to analyse country level policy approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, delineating a tentative four-category typology, based on available information. Finally, it sets out the possible outcome indicators that should be used to assess the national responses.
Ritu Priya Mehrotra
Covid-19: Politics Of Knowledge, Public Health And The World Order

In the 1940s, the world order, generated in the wake of two world wars and the breaking up of the British empire (with a large number of newly independent countries), was a bipolar world (liberal capitalist democratic on one side and socialist/ communist on the other). It lasted for about 50 years and then a relatively unipolar one reigned for about 20 years. The last decade has seen the rise of the ‘emerging economies’ across continents—with China and India, South Africa, Brazil and Russia—as those challenging the Euro-American liberal capitalist hegemony in the global order.

The sources of being a leading nation in the world order are, however, not only economic size and stability, but also the governance of finance and trade, technological innovation, the shaping of knowledge generation, a moral authority as a caring-cooperative society and a responsible contributor to the world and humanity at large.

This story is from the Issue 146, 2020 edition of Geography and You.

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This story is from the Issue 146, 2020 edition of Geography and You.

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Geography and You

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In the present era of a knowledge society, the world order will be shaped more than ever before by the politics of knowledge. In the post-CoVId world, public health knowledge is likely to be a significant contributor. This article briefly discusses the various contemporary public health approaches evident within the discipline: global health, community medicine and critical public health. Then it goes on to analyse country level policy approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, delineating a tentative four-category typology, based on available information. Finally, it sets out the possible outcome indicators that should be used to assess the national responses.

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Issue 146, 2020
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Issue 146, 2020
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