The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations

by Daniel Yergin

For the coronavirus has fueled a retreat that had already begun from globalization and from the international institutions and cooperation that have underpinned it. In 2008–2009, international collaboration was key to conquering the financial contagion. A dozen years later, such cooperation at the governmental and international level in fighting the contagion of the virus was notable by its absence. What had been talk of “decoupling” had turned into a rolling back of the supply chains that have been a foundation of a $90 trillion global economy. More broadly, borders go up, nationalism and protectionism rise, and the generally free movement of people becomes less free. One consequence of the global economic misery from the pandemic of 2020 could be greater prevalence of fragile and failed states, which would create new security challenges that, at some point, would