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Leaders

Joe Biden is an improbable architect of a bold new era. But he could be just the

right person

After the crisis, opportunity

Zanny Minton Beddoes considers the forces that will shape the post-Trump, post-
covid world

SOME YEARS loom large in history. Usually it is the end of a war or the onset of a
revolution that punctuates the shift from one chapter to another. 2020 will be an
exception. The defeat of Donald Trump marked the end of one of the most divisive and
damaging presidencies in American history. A once-in-a-century pandemic has created
the opportunity for an economic and social reset as dramatic as that of the Progressive
era. The big question for 2021 is whether politicians are bold enough to grasp it.

Covid-19 has not just pummelled the global economy. It has changed the trajectory of
the three big forces that are shaping the modern world. Globalisation has been