BICAR introduces its forthcoming course ‘Pandemic’. We consider the state of the nation in the wake of the novel corona virus, encouraging students to think afresh about the manner in which politics, economics, and policies unfold in times of a global crisis.

We ask: what leads to cyclical business collapses in capitalism and why do we return to it instead of finding alternative ways of organising ourselves? The talk lays the foundation for the 10-session course to follow, situating the current pandemic in the long history of what author Naomi Klein calls ‘disaster capitalism’.