The Covid-19 moment has revealed a sense of responsibility of Governments for the lives of individual citizens. It is health and care workers rather than soldiers who are the heroes of the moment. This session will ask whether the existential threat posed by the pandemic is opening up the possibility for the kind of social and political transformation that earlier occurred in major wars. In particular, could it involve a shift from national security to human security, from a geo-political on the danger of war against other states to a new commitment to human rights – political, civil, social, economic and environmental? And from the security of the state to the security of individuals and communities?

Mary Kaldor, Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit in the LSE Department of International Development and Affiliate Professor at IBEI, will discuss competing conceptions of security in times of Covid-19 with Pol Bargués, Research Fellow at CIDOB, and Martin Vlaskamp, Research Fellow Beatriu de Pinós at IBEI, in this online session co-chaired by Pol Morillas, Director of CIDOB, and Jacint Jordana, Director of IBEI.

>> The event will be streamed live at CIDOB’s Youtube channel.