Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Global Health. 2024 Aug 1;20(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s12992-024-01059-3.
Much has been said by actors from different fields and perspectives about the manifold changes in world affairs triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, it is to be expected that there will be impacts on long-standing partnerships such as the one between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries. However, few studies have demonstrated these impacts, either empirically, by uncovering their specificities or from a historical perspective, to allow for a reasonable methodological comparison of the patterns used to define the partnership and that have changed or have been affected in some way by the pandemic.
Through an in-depth qualitative assessment of primary and secondary sources, this article contributes to this research gap. It analyzes the patterns and changes or impacts in light of two strands of behavior that can make sense of EU-CELAC health cooperation-revisionist or reformist. The findings show an economy-driven health agenda as a new pattern of cooperation, which derives from EU reformist behavior after the pandemic.
The EU power to enforce its priorities in the context of health cooperation with CELAC is the main factor that will define how (and not just which) competing interests and capacities will be accommodated. The relevance of the study to the fields of global governance for health, interregional health cooperation and EU foreign policy is threefold. It shows us i.how two more international regimes are easily intertwined with health-trade and intellectual property-with the potential to deepen asymmetries and divergences even between long-standing strategic partners; ii.contrary to the idea that reformist behaviors are only adopted by actors who are dissatisfied with the status quo, the study shows us that the reformist actor can also be the one who has more material power and influence and who nevertheless challenges the success of cooperation in the name of new priorities and the means to achieve them; and iii.how the EU will find it difficult to operationalize its new priorities internally, among states and private actors, and with those of CELAC, given the history of intense disputes over health-related economic aspects.
不同领域和视角的演员都对 COVID-19 大流行引发的世界事务的多方面变化发表了看法。在这种情况下，可以预料到，长期存在的伙伴关系会受到影响，例如欧盟与拉美和加勒比国家共同体之间的关系。然而，很少有研究从实证角度揭示这些影响，即揭示其特殊性，或从历史角度揭示这些影响，以便对用于定义伙伴关系的模式进行合理的方法比较，这些模式已经发生变化或因大流行而受到某种程度的影响。
本文通过对主要和次要来源的深入定性评估，弥补了这一研究空白。它根据可以理解欧盟-拉加共同体卫生合作的修正主义或改革主义行为的两条线索，分析了模式和变化或影响。研究结果表明，一种以经济为导向的卫生议程是一种新的合作模式，它源自大流行后欧盟的改革主义行为。
欧盟在与拉加共同体进行卫生合作方面实施其优先事项的权力是决定（不仅仅是决定哪些）竞争利益和能力将如何得到容纳的主要因素。该研究对全球卫生治理、区域间卫生合作和欧盟外交政策领域具有三重意义。它向我们展示了以下几点：i. 随着卫生-贸易和知识产权等两个更多的国际制度与卫生容易交织在一起，甚至在长期战略伙伴之间也有可能加深不对称和分歧；ii. 与改革主义行为仅被那些对现状不满的行为体采用的观点相反，研究表明，改革主义行为体也可能是那个拥有更多物质权力和影响力的行为体，但仍以新的优先事项及其实现手段为名，挑战合作的成功；iii. 鉴于在卫生相关经济方面存在激烈争议的历史，欧盟将发现，在国家和私营部门内部以及与拉加共同体之间，实施其新的优先事项将非常困难。
