Book in Focus
People, Power, and Politics in the Post-Pandemic World Order"/>
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Book in Focus
People, Power, and Politics in the Post-Pandemic World Order

Edited by Ahmet Gökbel, Erman Akıllı, Burak Güneş


The wake of 2020 showed the world that the international system is always open to global crises. Throughout history, several breaking points have had a significant impact on this system, such as the Peace of Westphalia, the French Revolution, the Industry Revolution, World Wars (I and II), the end of the Cold War, and 9/11. In other words, the world has endured many global crises, such as world-wide wars, biohazards, and, most pertinently, pandemics that have affected millions of people. After the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, the international system entered a transition process that affected many countries in different ways. Some countries decided to impose mandatory curfews, and others closed their borders to foreigners. Moreover, for many countries, medical supplies turned into goods to be traded on the black market, which quickly became hard to find and very hard to share. Even though two years have passed since the COVID-19 pandemic became a norm for the international public, its effects (and its aftermath in particular) still continue. Thus, it is essential to understand the transition mentioned above from different perspectives.

In the late 1980s, conjunctural shifts in international politics provided a new type of political ground, which was enhanced in no small part by the dissolution of the USSR, where the borders between nation-states became fluid. This era, known as “globalization,” provided a broader understanding of international politics, which to understand requires a multi-disciplinary vision in political science. Therefore, it is now impossible to separate international relations from economics, or political science from sociology. In other words, the disciplines have been entwined. Thus, handling social sciences with a broader understanding is essential. It is also necessary to understand and analyze the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the international system at the levels of the state and broader society. Hence, this book is titled People, Power, and Politics in the Post-Pandemic World Order: Pandemic and Global Politics to shed light on the world’s transition within the new terms forced by the pandemic. As editors, we plan to cover this topic over a series of books. This book is the first of the series and consists of eleven well-structured chapters.

As mentioned above, world history has been the stage for many crises in different periods. But through those crises, disadvantaged groups, such as migrants, suffer the most. Thus, in times of crisis, migrants should not be neglected. For instance, regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the postponement of registration processes caused migrant rights to be lost both during and after the pandemic. The lack or incomplete registration of data for migrants can lead to migrants who are less visible or do not want to be seen as excluded from social and economic life and ignored. The unseen perspective regarding migrants and COVID-19 is considered in Abdullah Ayaz’s chapter, titled “A New Paradigm in Migration Management after the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

In his chapter, titled “Diplomacy in the Post-Pandemic World Order,” Arif Behic Ozcan asks a question about COVID-19 as both an experience and an opportunity to reconsider our entire expertise in diplomacy to face such risks. To seize this opportunity, states and all diplomatic stakeholders will need a change of mindset from traditional goals and existing value systems.

Ayşe Ataş pursues the question of the COVID-19 aftermath in the Middle East region on the manners of politics and economy in her chapter, “The Political and Economic Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Middle East.”

Bengü Çelenk and Burak Güneş question whether climate change, which has been at the top of the agenda when the world is faced with a pandemic, has a direct effect on US military bases. Their article, “Climate Change-Related Security Concerns: A Critical Investigation of the Direct Effects of Climate Change on US Military Bases”, claims that the US has not yet securitized climate change as an existential threat but that the US government, according to the current study, will inevitably have to securitize it.

In her chapter, titled “Human Migration in the Post-Pandemic World,” Dolapo Fakuade employs social control theory to explain and propose a more suitable approach for state management of migrants in the post-pandemic world. Since the rationale for human migration would continue, it is pertinent that countries, especially those receiving migrants, boost their labor force and improve current policies and practices to avert the migrant crisis in the post-pandemic world.

In his chapter, titled “Globalization in the Post-Pandemic World Order,” Kürşat Kan explains the COVID-19 era through the lens of globalization. In doing so, he sheds light on the fundamentals of globalization in world history with the support of globalization theories.

Levent Yiğittepe explains the pandemic world order based on the so-called freedom–security dilemma. He investigates the research question through theories of international relations. He reviews the applications of European and North American countries in his chapter, “The Freedom–Security Dilemma in the COVID-19 Period: The Hard Test of Liberal Systems.”

Elshan Bagirzadeh and Turan Suleymanov emphasize the importance of the contributions of higher education institutions to Azerbaijan’s economic development in their chapter, “The Contribution of Higher Education Institutions to Economic Development in Post-Soviet Countries: The Case of Azerbaijan.”

Orhan Battır reviews the public diplomacy practices of states during the pandemic and their exportation of constructed images to foreign audiences in his chapter, “Country Image and Public Diplomacy Tested During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

“There are many hopes after the despair. There are many suns behind the darkness.” Those are the famous words of Rumi, which were written on Turkiye’s humanitarian aid packages that were delivered all around the world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2020 and 2022, more than 2,000,000 people received humanitarian aid from Turkiye. In his chapter, titled “Türkiye’s Soft Power: Health Diplomacy in the Pandemic Period – An Evaluation via the Turkish Red Crescent and TIKA,” Recep Şehitoğlu reviews Turkiye’s humanitarian and health diplomacy through Turkish state institutions.

In his chapter, titled “COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation in Africa: A South–South Cooperation Toward the Post-Pandemic World?”, Sinan Baran analyzes the South–South relations specific to Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ideas and realities of change and transition in the post-pandemic world order among BRICS countries and Africa.

People, Power, and Politics in the Post-Pandemic World Order will be the title of this book series and, as editors, we are proud to present this very first volume of the series on the theme of Pandemic and Global Politics. We sincerely hope that this book will contribute to the social science literature and pave the way for further academic research on the post-pandemic world order.


Ahmet Gökbel, PhD, is Professor of International Relations at Kırşehir Ahi Evran University, Türkiye. His research covers topics such as Turkish cultural history, Anatolian folk culture and beliefs, Akhism, Alevi-Bektashi culture, and Turkish religious history. His publications include Kıpchak Turks and Encyclopedia of Alevi-Bektashi Idioms.

Erman Akıllı, PhD, is Associate Professor of International Relations at Kırşehir Ahi Evran University, Türkiye. He is the author of many book chapters and papers, as well as the book Türkiye’de ve Dünyada Devlet Kimligi (2016), and is the editor of Türkiye’de ve Dünyada Dış Yardımlar (2016) and Eurasian Politics and Society: Issues and Challenges (2017).

Burak Güneş, PhD, is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Kırşehir Ahi Evran University, Türkiye. He has published articles on state responsibility, private military and security companies, climate change and migration, and he is the author of the Private Military/Security Companies and State Responsibility: Blackwater and the Middle East and International Law on States Arming Non-State Armed Groups.


People, Power, and Politics in the Post-Pandemic World Order is available now at a 25% discount. Enter code PROMO25 to redeem.

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