Apocalypse Now? Initial Lessons from COVID-19 for the Governance of Existential and Global Catastrophic Risks
Hin-Yan Liu, Kristian Cedervall Lauta, Matthijs Maas
Abstract
This paper explores the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic through the framework of existential risks – a class of extreme risks that threaten the entire future of humanity. In doing so, we tease out three lessons: (1) possible reasons underlying the limits and shortfalls of international law, international institutions and other actors which Covid-19 has revealed, and what they reveal about the resilience or fragility of institutional frameworks in the face of existential risks; (2) using Covid-19 to test and refine our prior ‘Boring Apocalypses’ model for understanding the interplay of hazards, vulnerabilities and exposures in facilitating a particular disaster, or magnifying its effects; and (3) to extrapolate some possible futures for existential risk scholarship and governance.
Cite
@article{2020_liu_lauta_maas_apocalypse_now,
title = {{Apocalypse Now? Initial Lessons from COVID-19 for the Governance of Existential and Global Catastrophic Risks}},
author = {Hin-Yan Liu and Kristian Cedervall Lauta and Matthijs M. Maas},
year = {2020},
journal = {Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies},
volume = {11},
number = {2},
doi = {10.1163/18781527-01102004},
}