Najam Discusses “The Year of COVID” on DawnNews
On January 1, 2021, Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, appeared on DawnNews’ “Newswise” to recap the “Year of COVID” and discuss how 2020 will changed global affairs.
During his appearance, Najam explained how the shadow of our experiences with COVID-19 will be with us in both the short and long term. He discussed the impact that the pandemic had on global politics and how this will be felt for years to come. Najam also touched on the fact that multilateralism went out the window in 2020 and was seriously wounded by the year’s events.
When asked if the “Big State” is making a return in 2021, Najam responded by saying the “competent state” is in. He went on to say that, in response to COVID-19, it didn’t matter if a country was big or small, rich or poor. Government competence in delivering crucial services and resources became paramount this year, and he pointed to Vietnam and New Zealand as two examples of country’s that outperformed stood out in this regard.
The full program can be viewed below.
Adil Najam is a global public policy expert who also served as the Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. He is the Inaugural Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and was the former Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). His research focuses on issues of global public policy, especially those related to global climate change, South Asia, Muslim countries, environment and development, and human development. Read more about him here.