"The Covid-19 pandemic was a massively disruptive event, shaking social and political cohesion in several countries, slowing economic growth, straining national health systems, collapsing international travel and global supply chains, and refocusing international trade. But in many ways, the Covid crisis did not fundamentally shift the direction of the global geopolitical system. The structural return to a multipolar world order remains the dominant geopolitical theme, impacting political, economic, and security relationships, and reshaping global trade.What Covid did was heighten intermediate trends. Perhaps most significant for international supply chains, Covid reinforced attention on the vulnerabilities of complex and highly tuned supply chains and normalized selective flouting of liberal economic norms."

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Read the full Refereed article by Rodger Baker, RANE's Executive Director of the Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics at RANE, here.