BOOK SUMMARY/REVIEW: TEN LESSONS FOR A POST PANDEMIC WORLD BY FAREED ZAKARIA

TEN LESSONS FOR A POST PANDEMIC WORLD

BY FAREED ZAKARIA

Book Image

“We should have seen it coming. The coronavirus may be novel, but plagues are not.”

This line is prominent and well placed in the first few pages of the book Ten Lessons for a Post Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria.

In retrospect, I feel we should have. Definitely.

Year 2020 has been unprecedented (sorry to use "The Word" once again) for everyone. While some people have thrived, for many it has been unsettling and unnerving. This is a timely and insightful book by Mr. Zakaria where he helps us identify ten lessons (and trends) for the Post Pandemic world.

As the host of CNN’s International Affairs show, and someone who thinks about globalization deeply, I think he is well placed to talk about the subject. Bill Gates gave a TED Talk in 2015 in which he had spoken about an infectious virus that could have the capability to kill millions of people.

In 2017, when President Donald Trump proposed budget cuts in key agencies that dealt with public health and diseases, Mr. Zakaria had devoted a whole segment of his show to the topic, where he had highlighted that the biggest threat to United States wasn’t anything BIG – but something that is really really small. Deadly Pathogens – Man Made or Natural could trigger a global crisis.

This is exactly what happened in 2020.
While United States is at the epicenter of the book, the TEN LESSONS are valid GLOBALLY.
This I believe is because of his outlook and experience as an International Affairs specialist.

First, let me spend a bit of time on the Ten Lessons that Mr. Zakaria has helped identify and then we move to my overall review.

LESSON ONE: Buckle Up: 

While the Pandemic spread rampantly because of the enhanced speed of Globalization and people movement, this emergency has highlighted one of the OLD TRUTHS of International Life. That ULTIMATELY countries are ON THEIR OWN. When Pandemic struck, many nations that have long co-operated, also shut down their borders. They focused on their own survival. This section really talks about the fact that these kinds of incidents are only going to grow in future. With increased Life Span, better Health treatment, people will have to face these issues more frequently. That is because of the Human Actions and the Natural Reactions to Human Actions. Like Pandemic and Global Warming. The threats will keep on increasing and make the world increasingly Fragile. However, humans have been resilient and faced various challenges and odds to come up on the top. We have to start acting NOW to reduce this ever-increasing instability.

LESSON TWO: What Matters is not the Quantity of Government but the Quality:

Pandemic has proved how Good Governance and Bad Chaotic ones can make people and economies vulnerable. While China controlled the Virus with its usual high-handed deftness, even democracies like Germany, South Korea and New Zealand managed the virus well because of clear policies and strong contact tracing and testing. On the other hand, World’s oldest democracy America went through complete chaos and lost valuable lives due to lack of leadership. Great Britain also faced problems because of lack of clarity in it’s policies. What is required in the world going forward is Good Governance with Transparent systems and strong follow through. Today, Singapore is one of the most effective Government in the world. There is a need to build a strong and better bureaucracy, that helps the follow through on policies and execution. America, unfortunately, has lost it’s place as the leader in Good Governance. Today America needs to learn from others and help build for the future.

LESSON THREE: Markets are Not Enough: 

Going forward, Governments will have to play a more active role and not leave everything to the markets. Markets tend to divide the world into the Have’s and the Have Not’s. However, Governments with their policies can bring in a certain sense of socialism and improve the overall well-being of the country as a whole. Properly tailored regulations and policies can ensure free and fair competition and at the same time be a little more generous towards helping workers more and helping in re-building and re-training. The writer takes the example of Denmark in highlighting that they have found a path that is dynamic yet democratic, secure and just. We should learn from the Best Practices and take the ides ahead.

LESSON FOUR: Listen to the Experts – and the People:

People should listen to the experts and experts should listen to the people. In US, the President as well as the people did not pay heed. On the other hand in some places where people did, the response to the Pandemic was far better. Taiwan’s near flawless execution was overseen by the Vice President, a John Hopkins trained epidemiologist. While re-opening former scientist Angela Merkel took to Television to give Science Lesson to Germany. It helped. The fundamental reason many people refused to heed expert advice on Covid-19 was not to do with the complexity of science and limited data, but more to do with the lack of distrust on experts. People view experts with doubt – with respect to their interest in self-serving or even political affiliation. However, as the World gets more complicated, for the World to progress we do not need less but we need MORE Experts. Similarly, from the elites or the expert’s side there is a growing need of ‘empathy’ that should come with this expertise. Only then will there be a sweet spot.

LESSON FIVE: Life is Digital: 

More than a lesson this is a Trend. Increasingly Life is becoming more digital. There will be enormous effects of Digital in our lives, health and work. Pandemic has just hastened the process and opened people’s mind a lot more to experiment and read data more effectively. Growth of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare related industry has been huge and is going to jump even more as we move through this decade. Along with this the Mobile Revolution is going to shape the future. In countries like ours (India) the access to Internet has primarily been through the advent of Mobile. In the year 2000 there were 20 Million Indians, with access to internet. In 2010 the number would have grown to a 100 Million and today it stands at a whopping 650 Million+ . This advent of smartphones will accelerate modernization like never before in places like India. While not all changes will be positive, how Humans harness this power needs to be seen. There will be humongous job losses and the way we work will change completely. There will be a need to re-invent the purpose of life.

LESSON SIX: We are Social Animals:

Lockdowns, stay at home, work from home have kept people away from socializing, meeting and this has in turn led to depression. Aristotle in his book Politics, written in 350BC, declares on its first few pages that Man is Social Animal. He goes on to explain that Human Beings can fulfill their potentials in cities comparing them to bees who truly thrives in Beehives. The rapid pace of urbanization was one of the main causes of the Pandemic to spread. Densely populated areas, limited spaces led to rapid transmission of the disease. However, this urbanization cannot be stopped and it will only continue to grow. However, the Post Pandemic city or the new Metropolitan Model should look different. Proper governance can increase the life of cities and therefore humans. Humans make cities and cities make humans.

LESSON SEVEN: Inequality will get worse:

‘Death is democratic’. Pandemic should have been an equalizer but it was not. Isolation, Overnight Lockdowns, Loss of Jobs etc hit the poor a lot more than the rich. The Big will get Bigger. The inequality will not just increase between nations but also within nations and across the strata of the society. The Top 10% will grow faster.

LESSON EIGHT: Globalization Is Not Dead:

While Pandemic showed, every country for themselves, Globalization is not dead and neither will it be. There will be more information flow, technological knowhow flow. While every nation will want to increase it’s self reliance and try to reduce dependence overseas, there will be some nations who will forge new friendships and partnerships and ditch some others. Globalization is not dead, but will have some amount of distrust.

LESSON NINE: The World is becoming Bipolar:

 Post Pandemic will China evolve as the Single most powerful nation or will USA retain it’s crown – needs to be seen. However, this will form a Bi-Polar world. The tensions between US and China are inevitable, but a conflict or a Cold War is a choice. The book has been written before the US Elections and the Democratic Party led by Joe Biden coming to power. What needs to be seen is how this plays out in the Post Trump and Post Pandemic era. The dependence on China’s raw materials and production is huge as is China’s growth dependent on US Consumption. Bipolarity is inevitable.


LESSON TEN: Sometimes the Greatest Realists are the Idealists: 

The truth about the liberal international order is that there never really was a Golden Age, nor has the order decayed as much as it is ‘claimed’. The core attributes are still firmly in place with peace and stability in all major countries. This is the time to rebuild in a Bipolar World. However, there are other stong forces as well and that gives a chance to Multilateral Systems.


A functional multilateral system offers a chance to solve common problems. The Pandemic illustrates perfectly the risks and opportunities of interconnected world. It is not a flight of fancy to believe that co-operation can change the world. It is common sense

This book has described the world that is being ushered in as a consequence of the Covid-19 Pandemic, and in a way it has painted the broad strokes in describing the forces that are gathering steam.

The author mentions that in addition to the 10 Lessons, we must add Human Agency. People can choose which direction they want to push themselves, their societies and their world. The Novel Coronavirus has upended society and people are disoriented. So, change is already happening, and in that atmosphere further change becomes easier. The Pandemic has opened the possibility for change and reform, and it has opened the path for a New World. It is ours to take that opportunity or to squander it away.

I felt, the book deals with various issues that we need to pay heed to. However, my only problem is that the book is entirely at a philosophical level and does not really get into the “How”, while it clearly “Why” and “What”. I guess because there are no frameworks available, the book has not really delved into those details. We have to see how the World works on it’s revival. With Democracy prevailing in America, the policies and thrust of the New Government will help shape a lot in future. We also need to see how China reacts to those policies. Closer home, India has it’s own set of issues pertaining to China. How the World order continues or changes needs to be seen.

Though not a 5 Star (I would rate it at a 4 Star), I would recommend the book to people to gain a perspective.


Buy the Book:

Amazon India: 

https://www.amazon.in/Lessons-Post-Pandemic-World-Fareed-Zakaria/dp/0241491657/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1BB5SGJ5B1NX6&dchild=1&keywords=fareed+zakaria&qid=1613811665&s=books&sprefix=Faree%2Cstripbooks%2C267&sr=1-1