Pandemic could undermine stability, even in Europe: Think tank

Will COVID-19 make the world a less peaceful place in the year ahead? 

A global think tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace, raises that unhappy prospect in a special focus on the disease in its just-published annual Global Peace Index, which ranks countries according to safety and security, ongoing conflict and militarization. 

The institute, which works on measuring and communicating the economic value of peace, notes that the pandemic has unleashed a new wave of tension and uncertainty around the world. 

It says the devastating economic impact of COVID-19 will negatively affect political instability, international relations, conflict, civil rights and violence, undoing many years of socio-economic development.  

Civil unrest has doubled since 2011, the report reckons, with 96 of the 163 nations surveyed recording at least one violent demonstration last year. 

The number of riots globally over the nine years rose by 282 percent and general strikes by 821 percent by its count. 

Europe, perhaps surprisingly to many, has been the setting of most of these protests – almost two-thirds of which were nonviolent – and more of the same is anticipated in the months ahead. 

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