Background During the Cold War, the US and the USSR created spheres of influence and sought allies around the world. Each great power offered incentives or inducements to join their side including aid, trade, and other economic benefits, as well as military equipment, training, and, in some cases, the actual presence of troops to protect their allies. In the case of the Soviet Union, their allies in the Warsaw Pact did not have a choice when it came to the presence of Soviet troops. Some might argue that the US created NATO and also placed troops throughout Europe without permission from citizens in the occupied areas. Both great powers were creating and extending their spheres of influence by creating regional and global institutions to promote their values, norms and practices. The liberal internationalists in the Western nation-states, with reluctant support from the Soviet Union, created the UN system to deal with trade, development, and human rights, including the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948. Cooperation and collective action was always difficult to achieve especially in high politics areas where national interests influence most policy choices. However, in areas of common interests such as global health issues or natural disasters, international institutions were more welcome by most nation-states. During the 1918-1919 flu epidemic, nationstates were on their own and acted alone. After WWII, countries worked together to create a global health infrastructure to address common problems like pandemics and to conduct research that enabled public health officials to respond to new diseases and other health challenges. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO effectively managed the global response to several crises including the following: - SARS in 2003 - H1N1 flu in 2009 - Ebola in 2014-2016 - Zika in 2015-2016 After SARs, the WHO's governing body-the World Health Assembly-set up global health guidelines, including the authority to declare a public health emergency of international concern. With no way to enforce these health regulations not much can be done beyond naming and shaming and that does not work in the current environment of nationalism, populism, and selfinterest over collective interests. The COVID-19 pandemic is the main problem but we also need to ask why the UN Security Council members and other global institutions failed to pursue a collective response to this disease? Why was the WHO marginalized in this process and what strategies were the great powersnamely the permanent members of the UN Security Councilpromoting? The Case The great powersChina, Russia, the United States, and the European Unionare in the middle of a new period of competition for the "hearts and minds" of people around the world. Each of these players has initiated a vaccine diplomacy strategy in an attempt to use soft power to gain influence in parts of the world where there may be opportunities for economic gains or areas that have geopolitical value. In addition, the successful distribution of vaccines may convince some leaders that the donor country's political, economic, and social systems are superior to others. Vaccines have become currency for international diplomacy and are being used to promote a country's image and enhance their soft power position. According to Professor Joseph Nye (2004), soft power is all about shaping the preferences of other states. This means shaping what other actors in the system want. In the case of vaccine diplomacy, soft power is used to extend influence and create a community of supporters that recognize the scientific research skills and competencies of the donor country. For example, China wanted to show the world that their political and economic system is more efficient and capable than West to deliver vaccines. Each of the great powers want to show the world that they have the capacity to respond to a global crisis. China was one of the first countries to use the vaccine as a foreign policy tool when it sent 300,000 doses to Egypt. China has three vaccine makers: Sinopharm, Sinovac, and CanSino. These companies received orders for more than 572 million doses and, in the early years of the pandemic, this represented eight percent of all global orders. China received scores of requests from Latin America because governments thought China produced a low-cost vaccine fast that would be distributed effectively. China has been the dominant supplier of vaccines to Chile and doses were also sent to Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia. With Trump out of office, Brazil started moving closer to China. Brazilian President Bolsonaro's strategy was to mend fences with China, expedite tens of millions of vaccines, and allow manufacturing of Chinese vaccines in Brazil. CoronaVac became the cheapest, most accessible inoculation for developing states. Sinovac, the maker of CoronaVac, shipped millions of doses abroad to fifty-three countries and twenty-two additional countries placed orders. At the same time, China criticized wealthy states for doing little to give poor states access to vaccines. The Chinese government believes that vaccine needs may help other Chinese businesses, like Huawei, in Brazil and around Latin America. The Chinese government has linked the distribution of vaccines with their Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Government officials have called for prioritizing BRI countries for access to Chinese vaccines in order to strengthen relationships with BRI countries. Part of the BRI program's purpose is to demonstrate China's economic, scientific, and technological prowess as well as the superiority of its for more ebook/ testbank/ solution manuals requests: email 9..4@qq.com state capitalism and authoritarian system of governance to get things done and be more effective. China did not participate in the Biden administration's COVID-19 summit. Some countries have voiced concerns about the effectiveness of the Chinese vaccines and some polls suggest that it is the least favored among the vaccines available. United States The Trump administration pulled support for the WHO and was not active in finding a global solution to the pandemic. Multilateralism was not something the Trump administration promoted. After winning the election, President Biden was determined to return to US leadership in global public health. This was another example of the Biden doctrine of furthering US national interests by building global coalitions and elevating the focus on health issues and vaccine inequity. It should be noted that the US has been accused by leaders in the Global South of ignoring what they call "vaccine apartheid" in the global system. The Biden administration rejoined the WHO and pledged four billion dollars to the global vaccination effort being led by COVAX; the administration has also taken the lead in promoting a global strategy to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden stated that the US would become the arsenal of vaccines for the world and that the US would lead global public health efforts in global forums like the G7 and G20 and in more informal alliances, like the Quad with India, Australian, and Japan. The four states in this alliance promised to deliver one billion doses of COVID-19 in the Indo-Pacific region. The US took a lead position in the 2021 G20 meetings, urging states to work collectively to address the pandemic and future global health issues. G20 member states agreed to establish a Finance and Health Task Force to enhance global cooperation to detect and respond to emerging health threats. The Biden administration held a virtual COVID-19 summit in September 2021, calling the current situation an "all hands on deck crisis" urged public and private actors to work together to vaccinate seventy percent of the world by next year. Some eleven billion doses are necessary to reach widespread global immunity and the US promised to donate about 1.1 billion doses. This is more than any other country. Biden has continued to seek global partnerships and urged states to donate, rather than sell, vaccines. The US is finally addressing the Chinese and Russian lead in distributing vaccines to Latin America. The US claimed that China and Russia are using vaccines for geopolitical leverage. For example, China put pressure on Paraguay and Honduras to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Similarly, Brazil backtracked on a decision to bar Chinese telecom giant Huawei to gain more access to Chinese vaccines. The US has also let its geopolitical interests shape its vaccine strategy. The Biden administration's focus on the battle between democratic states and authoritarian states may have influenced their decision to deny vaccines to Nicaragua and the government of Daniel Ortega. The US thought President Ortega would use the vaccine to reward allies and control public enemies. European Union (EU) With twenty-seven member-states and significant divisions in wealth and policy resources, the EU claims that seventy-five percent of adults in the EU were fully vaccinated by November 2021. There are still disparities within this community, but even with these disparities, the EU has exported over one billion doses in 2021 and they have sent eighty-seven million doses to low- and middle-income countries through COVAX. The EU is the largest exporter of vaccines. The countries of the EU are committed to meeting the Biden administration's goal of vaccinating seventy percent of the global population by 2022. These same countries are in support of a focus on the world's most vulnerable countries. The EU is part of a collation of key players called Team Europe. It is made-up of EU member states, the European Commission, and two non-EU member statesNorway and Iceland. Team Europe is one of the strongest, most committed supporters of equitable access to vaccines. They have pledged 500 million doses for low- and lower middle-income countries by mid-2022 and they will donate 100 million of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen doses by the end of 2021. Russia Russia wanted to be the first to have a vaccine on the market. The August 2020 launch of Sputnik V (or Gam-COVID-Vac) COVID-19 vaccine beat the West but it has failed to live up to its hype. President Putin is still trying to get the WHO to approve the Sputnik vaccine. The Russian vaccine is being used by Argentina, Ghana, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Venezuela, Hungary, Serbia, UAE, Iran, and the Palestinian territories. Russia has also promoted its vaccine in several Eastern European countries, raising concerns among EU leaders. There are concerns about the efficacy of the vaccines and there are reports that many wealthy Russians are traveling to the West to get their vaccines. In general, the vaccine rate in Russia is quite low. It appears that Russian officials misplayed global marketing, and were hit with severe production problems. Russia has made minimal contributions to COVAX; instead, Russia has focused on commercially based bilateral deals. However, they are not meeting their contract obligations. To illustrate, shipments from Russia to the Global South were marred by delivery delays and excessive costs. Ghana received twenty thousand doses out of an expected 3.4 million and Angola received only forty thousand doses out of the twelve million they had requested. In the case of Russia, great power ambitions have exceeded their capabilities to produce and deliver vaccines. Outcome for more ebook/ testbank/ solution manuals requests: email 9..4@qq.com Currently, two billion doses are needed to meet the end-of-2021 goal of achieving a vaccination rate of forty percent in each country. The Head of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has made it clear that wealthy nation-states need to share doses, intellectual property, and technical know-how for manufacturing vaccines with the Global South. We must also deal with a broken multilateral system that does not encourage collective action. The world needs to focus on global health equity and commit to global solidarity by creating new rules and policies to address pandemics collectively. To many health experts and those concerned with governing global institutions, the pandemic is not a policy area where geopolitical competition among the great powers is of much help. The issue of vaccine equity must be addressed. To date, seventy-nine percent of vaccine shots have been administered in high- and upper middle-income countries. Over fifty percent of countries in the Global South still do not have enough doses to vaccinate even ten percent of their population. Moreover, five of the poorest countries in the world have only enough vaccine to reach less than two percent of their populationsChad, DRC, Haiti South Sudan, and Yemen.

Questions: Do you think great power diplomacy in this policy area is good for the world? Provide a maximum of 1.5 pages answer to this question.

Why is soft power so important to great powers in this case? Provide a maximum of 1.5 pages answer to this question.