A Brief History of Humankind author Yuval Noah Harari: International Affairs Require the Cooperation of All Countries  Tweet

According to Harari, the turmoil in the international order was not inevitable, but was rather the result of conscious and deliberate decisions made by certain politicians or leaders. These leaders sought to disrupt the international order by constantly emphasizing the inherent contradiction between loyalty to one’s own country and international cooperation.

In fact, there is no natural contradiction between nationalism and globalism, between loyalty to one’s own country and international cooperation. The core of nationalism is to love and care for one’s compatriots, rather than hate foreign countries. And in many cases, to take good care of one’s compatriots will inevitably require global cooperation. Harari mentioned that, from the global responses to COVID-19, a good nationalist is sometimes also a good globalist that knows how to cooperate with others. No country will be safe as long as the virus spreads in other countries across the world. Once the virus has undergone mutations, it will come back in a much more vicious form. In the face of such a crisis, all countries are “communities with a shared future”. Epidemic prevention is an international matter requiring international cooperation.

Climate change is also a global crisis needing our common attention. No one country can solve it independently, even if the best ecological policies are adopted. If any country refuses to cooperate, all countries still need to bear the consequences of global warming and ecosystem collapse.

We have only one Earth, all countries should do their bit to protect it and cooperate on climate issues. Harari took the Tokyo Olympics Games as an example and pointed out that the Games, although, technically speaking, an inter-national competition, are in fact a deep cooperation among different countries. The Olympics are hosted under the premise that all countries agree on the rules of the competition. Admittedly, it is much easier to form a consensus on Olympic rules than on governing the climate crisis. But we need to realize that international cooperation is possible, and cooperation is the cornerstone for solving problems together.

“it is possible for humans to cooperate with each other as long as we realize that cooperation is not for others but for ourselves,” Harari concluded. “In the face of crises, if we cannot reach global cooperation, we will all bear the severe consequences.”

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