COVID-19 Webinar

The online conference “Health, Economic and Political Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic” was held on 06 April 2020. Its first panel was organized in conjunction with the Gulbenkian Institute of Science. Broadcast via live streaming, the conference was divided into three discussion panels featuring a wide range of renowned Portuguese and international experts in the fields of health sciences, economics and politics.

The Covid-19 Pandemic raises fundamental health, economics and political challenges for our immediate and long term future. The purpose of this conference is to address these challenges.

The first panel will address the once in a lifetime health emergency with which Covid-19 is facing the world. Its purpose will be to understand better this health emergency and how best to address it. But this health emergency and what is required to address it also raises the prospect of a grave economic crisis.

The second panel will discuss the possible nature and extent of this crisis as well as what is necessary to address it both at the national and EU level.

The third panel will discuss the political and democratic consequences of the crisis. Some have argued that the use of extraordinary powers and the appeal to a stronger authority to address it might constitute a challenge to liberal democracy. Others argue, instead, that the enhanced role of experts and science and the focus on transparency might lead to a reinforcement of liberal democracy. This impact on democracy, as well as the geopolitical consequences of the crisis in terms of world balance of power, will be the focus this last panel.

The conference brings together a remarkable group of academic and policy experts from health, economics and politics.