Book Review - Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World By Fareed Zakaria
Jan 04, 2021
READ: 5 mins
REVIEWER: Robert Craven
One heck of a title. And it isn’t just link bait to catch your attention.
Two things strike you about this book:
- Zakaria’s grasp of the big picture
- His ability to take such a wide brief and produce a thoroughly understandable and enjoyable book.
On the other hand, while his discussion is well-researched and far-reaching, it doesn’t feel conclusive. But then, how can it be?
The back cover gives you most of the blurb you need to convince you to buy the book, which is clearly written for an American audience:
“In this urgent and timely book, Fareed Zakaria, one of the 'top ten global thinkers of the last decade' (Foreign Policy), foresees the nature of a post-pandemic world: the political, social, technological and economic consequences that may take years to unfold.
In his ten lessons, he writes about the acceleration of natural and biological risks, the obsolescence of the old political categories of Right and Left, the rise of 'digital life', the future of globalization and an emerging world order split between the United States and China.
He invites us to think about how we are truly social animals with community embedded in our nature, and, above all, the degree to which nothing is written—the future is truly in our own hands.”
The chapter headings are as follows:
- Buckle Up – this will not be the last pandemic
- What Matters Is Not the Quantity of Government but the Quality
- Markets are Not Enough – we need to make markets/competition free and fair
- People Should Listen to the Experts – And Experts Should Listen to the People
- Life is Digital
- Aristotle Was Right – We Are Social Animals
- Inequality Will Get Worse
- Globalisation is Not Dead
- The World is Becoming Bipolar – China and USA are dominant, but the best way forward is through multilateral cooperation
- Sometimes the Greatest Realists are Idealists – don’t close the doors on optimism or finding better ways
Conclusion – the future is in our hands
Since the end of the Cold War, the world has been shaken to its core three times:
- 11 September 2001
- the financial collapse of 2008
- Covid-19.
Each was an asymmetric threat, set in motion by something seemingly small. And yet, each was different from anything the world had seen before. Of course, Covid-19 is the biggest of the three.
Ten Lessons has a bold brief. Governance, economics and culture are all covered.
Zakaria shines a light on our resilient world. States actually “gain strength through chaos and crises.”
What matters is not the ideological colouration of government or its size, but its quality. He argues for a competent, well-functioning, trusted state.
Left-of-centre New Zealand and right-of-centre Germany responded well to Covid-19. Left-of-centre Sweden and right-of-centre Mexico responded poorly. Right or Left are not clear indicators of how a country will perform. Also, some had big governments and others small. A competent well-functioning state makes the difference.
No surprises that he sees the US as neither competent nor cohesive.
The book’s central message comes in the last paragraph: “This ugly pandemic has … opened up a path to a new world.”
A few other takeaways:
- Open, fast, stable... we can only have two of these in a world. Our world is open and fast
- We live as if inviting a pandemic to happen (e.g. pushing into wild animals’ territories and factory farming)
- Outbreaks are inevitable but pandemics are not
- In general, democracies handle crises better than dictatorships because of the free flow of information
- America was "private opulence and public squalor" (John Kenneth Galbraith)
- The Right defunds and the Left encumbers government (in the US)
- Collective efforts and sacrifice must be considered. Socialism should have its place in America.
Both The Financial Times and Zakaria’s book urge a change already upon us.
He quotes from the FT’s article Virus lays bare the frailty of the social contract. The newspaper that used to celebrate capitalism now argues that many rich societies do not honour a social contract that benefits everyone. So, our recent neoliberalism must now give in to radical reforms. Governments “will have to accept a more active role in the economy. They must see public services as investments… Redistribution will again be on the agenda; the privileges of the… wealthy in question.” Now is the time for “basic income and wealth taxes.” This is a position now echoed in The Economist How Resilient is Democracy?
Freemarket economics (aka Thatcherism) had a nice run since the 1980s. However, Covid-19 is accelerating the mental turn engendered by the 2008 financial crisis.
So, you wouldn’t be surprised that he idolises the Danes who seem to have combined welfarism and individual responsibility.
His conclusion is that it is not too late. It is all worth fighting for. Nothing is inevitable. We have a great opportunity to create a safer and more sustainable world.
“This ugly pandemic has created the possibility for change and reform. It has opened up a path to a new world. It’s ours to take that opportunity or squander it.”
The book is well-researched and well-written. If you like reading The Economist, you’ll love this.
“Ten Lessons” is an intelligent guide for a world that is already in the making.