Theories of international relations are coherent and systematic representations of the world. As such, they can help us understand the health crisis that we have been facing in 2020. The characteristics of the processes that have triggered and continue to accompany the pandemic make it a transnational phenomenon, confirming the perspective of the same name. At all stages of this crisis, the role of the individual is central. Nevertheless, on a closer look, the individual’s capacity of action is in fact rather limited. If the virus does not care about borders, it is not the case for those who carry it. Indeed, they rely on the state to solve this crisis, a state whose behavior coincides with what the realist theorists predict. The priority is thus given to the sovereign action of states, which are focused on their own interests, as they take part in a barely concealed power competition.

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