On 5th July 2021, the Institute for Global Public Policy (IGPP) held the 33rd event of the Fudan-LSE Lecture Series online. Professor Timothy Hildebrandt, associate professor of Social Policy and Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), delivered the lecture “The Politics of Pandemic: Lessons From HIV/AIDS For Understanding Post-Covid-19 Social Policy”. Nearly 160 students and faculties from Fudan University, LSE, and other institutions participated in the virtual event. Professor Yijia Jing, dean of IGPP, chaired the lecture.

Professor Hildebrandt first gave a brief introduction to the Department of Social Policy at LSE. He stated that social policy is committed to solving the wicked problems in society, referring to the ways to maintain social functioning and promote people’s well-being. He then outlined some well-known theories and frameworks for understanding social policy. Professor Hildebrandt pointed out that although many people predicated COVID-19 would be the “game-changer” for global social policy, he believed those changes might be impermanent. Applying the multi-stream approach and taking inspiration from relevant events can help understand and predict social policy changes in the post-pandemic era. Taking China and the United States’ response to AIDS as an example, he argued that AIDS has triggered a series of significant and permanent changes in social policy, while at the same time, many changes were drastic but fleeting soon. The pandemic has exposed inequalities in existing social policies, but cannot completely solve them.

Professor Hildebrandt shared his opinion on social policy in the post-epidemic era. He pointed out that the COVID-19 is a global crisis, but it could not lead to systemic and permanent changes in global social policy. The event concluded with a heated discussion between professor Hildebrandt and the audience online.