According to Eduard Soler: “vaccines have suddenly been incorporated into the foreign policy toolbox of global and regional powers. This article analyzes the strategies of producers and recipients of vaccines in the Atlantic Space. It concludes that COVID-19 has reinforced previous trends, regarding regional cooperation and global geopolitical competition. In that vein, the Atlantic space has been a laboratory of both cooperation and competition initiatives among vaccine producers and recipient countries. Although material interests have been a major driver in shaping preferences and strategies, this article suggests that symbolic and normative factors also contributed to the configuration of vaccine diplomacies of producers and recipients.”

Proximity and competition: Vaccine diplomacy in the Atlantic space

         By Eduard Soler i Lecha, from the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs

An additional material available on the subject of the geopolitcs of the vaccines is his short option piece “Pandemic, Vaccines and Power”

According to Soler, “the Covid-19 crisis has accelerated geopolitical dynamics that were in place before the pandemic. The global centre of gravity has shifted towards Asia, with China’s status as a great power strengthened and India’s steady rise continuing. At the same time, multilateral institutions are being challenged.”

The subject was also debated in a conversation streamed on YouTube* with Rafael Vilasanjuan, director of Analysis and Global Development in ISGLOBAL.

*The video was held in spanish.