Genesis of the COVID-19 pandemic. An attempt at analysis based on the New Green Political Theory

Abstract

The analysis includes an attempt to identify the ecopolitical genesis of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the pathogenic virus SARS-CoV-2, based on the New Green Political Theory paradigm.NGPT is a modernised version of the classic Green Political Theory, extended to include opposite and dichotomous concepts (such as unsustainable development) and the consequences of post-democratic turn. It can be hypothesised, according to NGPT, that the appearance of the virus SARS-CoV-2 in November 2019 in Chinese Wuhan was only the result of previous eco-political actions or omissions. The main research question: is the New Green Political Theory (NGPT) as a revised paradigm useful for identifying political processes, actions or omissions that have contributed to COVID-19 disease appearing in political sphere and becoming a global pandemic? The methodological tool planned for research tasks will be the equilibrium/nonequilibrium approach (E/NA), because the New Green Political Theory tests the tensions between opposing and dichotomous concepts based on the antagonism of ecocentrism versus anthropocentrism.

Keywords

• New Green Political Theory
• European Union
• COVID-19
• ecocentrism
• ecopolitics
• sustainable development