Ideologising the Coronavirus

The coronavirus has took control of the world. Quite literally. A world health crisis has resulted in us turning to the politicians in power to save our lives. A global pandemic has made us more intune with politics than ever before. The most liberal countries around the world have been forced to take authoritarian measures that would have never been imagined. The common consensus is that these measures have killed political ideology. We no longer have the liberal lefties or the right-wing conservatives, shoving their principles down our throats. Political ideology does not matter, only fighting the virus. 

But, has the coronavirus done the opposite? Has it magnified political ideology on a wider scale? The economy has been completely transformed as a result of this pandemic. Money is being pumped into businesses that have to shut down and employees being furloughed.  Rather than diminishing political ideology of left and right, the coronavirus has emerged a Keynesian ideology of the economy. It has not eradicated political ideology. 

There is a big question looming over the idea of what the economy will look like after the coronavirus? Whether it will follow the ideas of free market thinkers such as Milton Friedman or the interventionist ideas of John Maynard Keynes. We could therefore say that this pandemic has not disappeared political ideology of the left and right divide but has changed it to a Keynesian ideology. This is a natural reaction in times of crisis and has been seen throughout history after the Great Depression in the 30's. People will naturally lean towards interventionist policies, away from the free market. 

If we look at the 2008 financial crash, the Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling applied this ideology. He took control of Northern Rock into a period of temporary public ownership. Keynesian ideology began to resurge. Gordon Brown built support for fiscal stimulus among global leaders at September's UN General Assembly. This is the idea of increasing government consumption or transfering or lowering taxes. Much discussion among policy makers around the world reflected Keynes' advocacy of international coordination of fiscal stimulus and of international economic institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. Britain was even the first nation to announce a substantial fiscal stimulus, with Alistair Darling referring to Keynes as he unveiled plans for fiscal stimuli to head off the worst effects of recession. 

Political ideology is more alive now than ever. Johnson ultimately has resorted to the economic credo his party spent decades denying. The coronavirus is more ideologised than ever before. It has cause a radical change in economic thinking. The capitalist ideology that we have been instructed to believe can no longer protect societies. The coronavirus has exposed capitalism as unrealistic, insufficient and dangerous in times of crisis. This virus has taught us that the unrestrained forces of free markets are unsustainable. Capitalist ideology is now facing the deepest crisis in its several centuries of existence. 

It is therefore naive of us to deny political ideology. Whilst the terminology of left and right might be diminishing in usage by politicians. Political ideologies are not being eradicated but shifting 360 degrees. Coronavirus has ideologised politics more than ever. It has paved the way for keynesian ideology and to reveal the brutish reality of capitalism. The ideology focused on the drive to create surplus-value, dead-labour and has given the spotlight on our imperialist governments.