‘Weak’ and ‘Strong’ States in Pandemic Times: Power and Influence During a Global Health Crisis

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted some of the limitations of traditional assessments of the power of states as ‘strong’ or ‘weak’ in hard power terms. Diana Galeeva argues that when faced with a global human security threat, a state’s capacity can be partially measured by its ability to provide human security to its citizens, and to leverage its economic strength to provide foreign aid.