Alcohol Consumption and Closed Borders - How COVID-19 Restrictions have Impacted Alcohol Sales and Consumption in Europe

BackgroundThe closing of bars, restaurants and international borders during the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant changes in alcohol availability. The study provides a first systematic overview of the monthly development of alcohol sales in Europe during the pandemic in order to determine the effect of closed borders on the sales and consumption of alcohol.MethodsThe study covers 60 months from January 2015 to December 2020 in 14 northern-European countries with excise revenue data for beer, wine, spirits separately and summed, converted into litres of pure alcohol per capita 15+ as a proxy for alcohol sales. March-December 2020 is seen as the pandemic period. The analyses consist of (1) descriptive trends of sales before and during the pandemic, (2) assessment of the pandemic impact on sales by time-series analyses and (3) case studies of countries with substantial cross-border inflow or outflow of alcohol.ResultsThe result shows an overall reduction in alcohol sales during the pandemic. Nevertheless, the results differ based on the level of cross-border purchasing flows pre-pandemic, as countries with high cross-border inflow saw an increase in domestic sales as the pandemic hit. ConclusionThe closing of intra-European borders had a significant redistributing effect on alcohol sales. While noting sales increases, cross-border inflow countries generally saw a decrease in total alcohol consumption as not all cross-border purchases were replaced by domestic sales. This has important policy implications as large volumes of cross-border inflow of alcohol can negatively affect excise revenue as well as public health outcomes. The methodology can be used to further explore the reliance of different purchasing streams in a domestic alcohol market.

Water Diplomacy: And the Share of the Nile River between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan

Water diplomacy across international borders can be a useful tool in solving problems related to the shared water resources of the political entities involved, especially when the interests of the countries are diverse. Water disputes can likely lead to potential conflicts if not properly address in a holistic manner to satisfy all parties concerned. Many discussions about water resources that cut across international borders have focused on their potential for either conflict or cooperation. Africa as a continent with shared resources is not isolated from these enormous challenges concerning the share of natural resources such as water. Africa is generally seen as a fragile region, and the signs of water conflicts in it have begun to appear in clear and dangerous forms. Diplomatic options for settling water disputes and avoiding any potential repercussions seems for the likelihood. Notwithstanding, these options Water Diplomacy has many challenges that limit its effectiveness owing to the deep political tensions among the countries. This study focused on analyzing the concept of water diplomacy and look into the dispute over the share of the Nile River, while highlighting the legitimate right of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan in line with international conventions on water resources. Received: 24 September 2021 / Accepted: 25 November 2021 / Published: 5 January 2022

Helping Communities Confront Extremism

False claims disseminated on social media by extremists can convince ordinary people not just to sit in their armchairs and rage at the violence of one side or another but to leave their homes either to riot at the Capitol in Washington, DC, for example, or to sneak over international borders in order to join the so-called “Islamic State.” Governments' softer counterextremist policies may focus on messaging but tend to overlook the specific claims aimed at those vulnerable to radicalisation. Furthermore, general lack of trust in officialdom can undermine its messaging or even serve to bolster the extremist “us and them” narrative. This chapter suggests that, by harnessing their specialist information literacy knowledge and skills, librarians can build on their positive social capital and assume an active role in developing in their users the critical thinking and awareness necessary to identify and expose misleading extremist propaganda, thereby helping to make their local communities safer.

Redefining Interaction in Study Abroad Programs

As international borders closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, study abroad programs struggled to send students back to their home countries and to maintain academic continuity by transitioning from in-person to remote instruction. Afterwards, university administrators found themselves in the unenviable position of having to make decisions based on limited information regarding the feasibility and safety of allowing students to travel abroad. Uncertain mobility and visa processes, limited flights, health risks, and lack of preparedness for managing students abroad in a pandemic contributed to cancellations. Some programs remained open by reinventing their programming and procedures. In the meantime, those responsible for study abroad, both on home campuses and on international sites, began to examine different ways to provide opportunities to interact with first language (L1) speakers without physical proximity. This chapter focuses on how interaction has been redefined and adapted to limited in-person, hybrid, and virtual study abroad.

Liberal Self-Determination in a World of Migration

This book focuses on three key questions regarding the movement of persons across international borders: (1) What gives some residents of a liberal society a right to be considered citizens of that society such that they have a claim to make decisions with regard to its political future? (2) Do citizens of a liberal society have a prima facie right to exclude prospective immigrants despite their commitment to the values of freedom and equality? And (3) if citizens have this prima facie right to exclude prospective immigrants, are there moral requirements regarding how they may exercise it? The book therefore tackles the most pressing philosophical questions that arise for a theory that does not endorse a human right to immigrate: the questions of who exercises self-determination in the area of immigration, why they have such a right in the first place, and how they should go about exercising it.

Human Folly and Border Fences: Looking to Non-Human Actors at the Indo–Bangladesh Border

The obsession with inter-state territorial borders and the associated paraphernalia of border management and security makes borders and their management a primarily human-centric discourse. This paper makes an attempt at introducing the agency of rivers as non-human actors—or rather as actants—in shaping and managing international borders. The paper looks specifically at the riverine sector of the Indo-Bangladesh border, where the international boundary has been re-negotiated each year by the transnational rivers, primarily the Brahmaputra (also the Gangadhar), through flooding, erosion, and deposition of sediment. By interrogating the role of rivers in shaping the border and border management strategies, the paper argues that humans, despite persisting as the primary agents in border management, are not the only actors. Drawing on Actor Network Theory (ANT), a case is made to appreciate the general symmetry between humans and non-humans as a-priori equal. Incorporating both in an actor-network may provide insights into border management in complex borderlands.

THE NEOREALISM AND NEOLIBERALISM BEHIND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS DURING COVID-19

The literature contains much discussion on the contemporary differences between neorealism and neoliberalism, especially in the context of international relations. However there have, as yet, been limited attempts to investigate how these international relations theories fare in explaining state responses to the COVID-19 outbreak. This study reviews the conceptual frameworks underpinning neorealism and neoliberalism and applies them to key state behaviors during the COVID-19 outbreak. Some examples of neorealism attached to the current pandemic include: criticism of the role of the World Health Organization, the closure of international borders, international competition to collect pharmaceutical products, bans on exports, richer states protecting their national interests, the international misuse of power during emergency orders, restrictions placed on the international media, and the deployment of military forces. By contrast, neoliberalism's focus on international cooperation is noted in U.S., Chinese, and other countries’ attempts to distribute knowledge and aid internationally, as well as in the efforts of key international organizations like the World Health Organization and the global Covax initiative. I offer an evidence-based conceptual framework using neorealism and neoliberalism to show how both have informed international behavior during the COVID-19 outbreak—although continued emphasis on the former shows few signs of abating as the pandemic approaches its third year.

The Practice of ‘Othering' during COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia: From the cities to the highlands

This paper attempts to throw light on the concept of ‘othering’ previously framed through the prism of identity politics. As COVID-19 continues to ravage our economy and social life, we turn to looking at two contested sites of the highland national borders and the urban cities to understand how the ‘othering' idea manifests itself right when the pandemic began in late December 2019. The first situation is described in social media as Malaysia’s mass rage and xenophobic rants against Rohingya refugees and the second scenario is the closure of international borders between Sarawak and East Kalimantan in the uplands located in the northeast of Central Borneo. By analysing texts in the form of narratives, anecdotes and communication encountered through social media, the paper raised questions whether these were manifestations of specific forms of marginalisation of people based on perceived group differences or simply expressions of fear of COVID-19 disease and anxiety about scarcity of resources as a result of the pandemic.

Epilogue

Covid-19 was not just a virus. It was a story: of our collective health, our vulnerability, and our resilience. This overarching narrative emerged from many smaller narratives. There was the political narrative of the pandemic, the story of governments working to respond to an unprecedented threat. There was the economic narrative, lived across a variety of scales, from multinational corporations scrambling to adapt to changing workplace realities to the dinner tables around which many people, newly unemployed, worked out monthly expenses. It was a global story, as an epidemic that started in China crossed provincial and then international borders to engulf the world. At a deeper level, it was the story of individuals, each trying to navigate the difficulties of the moment. The sick and the well, those who recovered from the disease and those who succumbed to it. And just as the broader narrative of Covid-19 is anchored in these individual stories, each of these stories has something to say about the foundational forces that shaped the arc of the pandemic....