The Covid-19 Revolution

The pandemic has highlighted the need to revitalise postwar institutions and address shortcomings in democratic governance.

In December 1862, in the throes of the American Civil War, which pitted the norms of slavery against the norms of freedom, US President Abraham Lincoln presented his emancipation plan to Congress. 'The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present,' he declared . 'The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.'