COVID-19 and De Facto States

Led by Mete Hatay

Feb 2020 –

​Although viruses do not recognize borders, international institutions such as the World Health Organization do, meaning that unrecognized states have faced a world health crisis more or less on their own.

Although viruses do not recognize borders, international institutions such as the World Health Organization do, meaning that unrecognized states have faced a world health crisis more or less on their own. Such entities are already hampered by various degrees of embargo and isolation, and they tend to have weak health systems due to fragile economies. The exception to this tendency is Taiwan, which has been held up as an example of successfully tackling the crisis. Another example is north Cyprus, which due to its isolation was easily able to shut its ports and go into lockdown to contain the situation. The dual face of isolation as both crippling and protecting makes unrecognized states interesting sites to think about how to deal with a pandemic. The project examines the responses to COVID-19 by north Cyprus and other unrecognized entities and assesses its impact on their status.

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