The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant political, economic, social and environmental risks to countries all around the globe, warns a new report by King’s students.

Undergraduates from across the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy have looked at the effect of the virus and the likely geopolitical risks it has created across the world, including in Russia and the Balkans, Latin America and Western Europe.

Their analyses discuss:

• How the pandemic has fractured Western Europe, widening the rift between members states and damaged the European identity.
• Ways in which criminal groups in Latin America have sought to capitalise on the health crisis to expand their power.
• The potential financial destabilisation that could result from a deterioration in relations between China and India.
• Whether the Nordic model has the strength and solidarity to act as a role model for others.
• The significant financial consequences for Saudi Arabia following falling oil prices, diminished oil demand and reduced income from the Hajj pilgrimage.
• The risks of sovereign defaults and how much this has resulted from deregulation and a lack of transparency in the global financial system.

The articles are all featured in a new report, Crossing the Geopolitical Rubicon: Assessing the Risks in a post-COVID Age, published by the KCL Geopolitical Risk Society in partnership with KCL International Relations Today.

You can find out more about the KCL Geopolitical Risk Society here.