Global transitioning: beyond the Covid-19 pandemic

Picking up on Fernand Braudel's schematic of three speeds of time, this article examines the overlapping periods of vaccine nationalism, viral globalization, and runaway capitalism: running away, meaning a lack of effective regulatory controls and lax democratic accountability. The stark contradiction between vaccine nationalism and a planetary health crisis propels this unfolding of history. The two tendencies feed one another, affording an opportunity to grasp the flow of history and the system's fragility. This dynamic highlights the conundrum of equitable distribution of the drug on a world level. It draws attention to the imperative of replacing vaccine nationalism with a global vaccine ethics based on rectitude and social justice. This complex offers an opportunity to restructure the world in ways that are accountable, inclusive, and protective of the common good. In this way, Braudelian historicism is deployed to chart an avenue of inquiry about transitioning to a better world order.