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EL ESPECTADOR

U.S. Leadership, The Missing Link In World's Fight Against COVID-19

In 2020, the world faces a pandemic without recognizable leadership from a state or multilateral bodies. Even diehard critics of U.S. interventionism may be missing the superpower of the old days.

Donald Trump arriving at press briefing on COVID-19 pandemic
Donald Trump arriving at press briefing on COVID-19 pandemic
Arlene B. Tickner

-OpEd-

BOGOTÁ — Much has been written in recent years on the collapse of a world order where the United States plays a key role in its construction and upkeep, and on the possible implications for international relations. Idealized traits of this order included: Near-universal free trade and liberal democracy, the existence of common rules, and multilateralism and globalism. All of these supposedly contributed to the peaceful coexistence of nations, the fluid functioning of the global system and, ultimately, collective wellbeing.

While this is a caricature of a project whose inner contradictions ultimately nurtured the crises that led to its downfall, the absence of world leadership has seriously affected our collective capacity to fight problems that are inherently ignorant of borders, such as global warming or pandemics. As these issues create shared costs and affect the weakest populations, they demand joint, consensual policies in response.

But instead of a coordinated strategy that pulls the entire international community in the same direction, there is dissonance in the efforts of different countries to contain the coronavirus, if not finger-pointing and mutual incriminations. Trump, for example, has been attributing the "foreign virus' invading U.S. territory to Europe's lack of action. Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of exporting the virus, South Korea has condemned Japan for restricting air traffic, and Colombia's President Iván Duque has closed the border, refusing to talk to Maduro on the other side. He is thus encouraging illegal entries by Venezuelans, which is even more dangerous. Both Russia and the Saudis are, for their part, fishing in murky waters, looking to make some capital from a dirty oil war.

Crises bring out the worst in states bereft of proper leadership

We may not like the conductor role the United States has played in the past but even the most critical observers, with whom I identify, must admit to feeling some nostalgia at this juncture. This would be the time to issue a political call for cooperation and solidarity, and take a collective decision for which there are currently no ideal voices, not even among multilateral bodies like the UN. The situation is being aggravated, and the possibility of collective action thwarted, by protectionism, nationalism, unilateralism and xenophobia. All of these elements have been rising since the previous great crisis, the financial crash of 2008.

Crises bring out the worst in states bereft of proper leadership, as well as in societies — especially when they are subjected to a high dose of fear and uncertainty. Still, besides mutual suspicions, discrimination and selfish hoarding, crises also sow expressions of altruism, compassion, solidarity and collaboration. The moving gesture these days by Italians and Spaniards coming to their balconies to applaud and encourage those fighting the war on the coronavirus produces a different kind of nostalgia. A sort of wishful hope that, once our world is so shaken up we no longer recognize it, we may learn to face our present and future together.


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Society

What's Spoiling The Kids: The Big Tech v. Bad Parenting Debate

Without an extended family network, modern parents have sought to raise happy kids in a "hostile" world. It's a tall order, when youngsters absorb the fears (and devices) around them like a sponge.

Image of a kid wearing a blue striped sweater, using an ipad.

Children exposed to technology at a very young age are prominent today.

Julián de Zubiría Samper

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — A 2021 report from the United States (the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) found that 42% of the country's high-school students persistently felt sad and 22% had thought about suicide. In other words, almost half of the country's young people are living in despair and a fifth of them have thought about killing themselves.

Such chilling figures are unprecedented in history. Many have suggested that this might be the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but sadly, we can see depression has deeper causes, and the pandemic merely illustrated its complexity.

I have written before on possible links between severe depression and the time young people spend on social media. But this is just one aspect of the problem. Today, young people suffer frequent and intense emotional crises, and not just for all the hours spent staring at a screen. Another, possibly more important cause may lie in changes to the family composition and authority patterns at home.

Firstly: Families today have fewer members, who communicate less among themselves.

Young people marry at a later age, have fewer children and many opt for personal projects and pets instead of having children. Families are more diverse and flexible. In many countries, the number of children per woman is close to or less than one (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong among others).

In Colombia, women have on average 1.9 children, compared to 7.6 in 1970. Worldwide, women aged 15 to 49 years have on average 2.4 children, or half the average figure for 1970. The changes are much more pronounced in cities and among middle and upper-income groups.

Of further concern today is the decline in communication time at home, notably between parents and children. This is difficult to quantify, but reasons may include fewer household members, pervasive use of screens, mothers going to work, microwave ovens that have eliminated family cooking and meals and, thanks to new technologies, an increase in time spent on work, even at home. Our society is addicted to work and devotes little time to minors.

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