Plus Ça Change…? How the COVID-19 Crisis May Lead to a Revaluation of the Local

With COVID-19 unfolding its deadly and disruptive force, calls from all across the political spectrum for putting an end to globalization are becoming louder. But will the pandemic really constitute a stumbling block to the inexorable machinery of growing interconnection? We argue that, as with previous global crises such as the financial crisis, it is not obvious that the COVID-19 crisis will lead to a process of de-globalization. However disastrous the consequences of international cross-linking may be for economies and societies. It is much more likely that the “new common” will see an acceleration of the process of localization, already occurring as part of globalization in the “old common”.