welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. the idea of a social contract is a staple of political philosophy, put curedly, it s the ties and obligations that bind the individual, the community and the state. but what happens when that contract is threatened by forces beyond the control of any national government, say, a climate crisis or right now, a global pandemic? my guest is baroness minouche shafik, the director of london school of economics, former top official at the world bank. is humanity capable of collective action to meet global challenges? baroness minouche shafik, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. lovely to be here. it s a pleasure to have you on the show. you have written extensively through a long career as a top economist about the relationship between the individual and the collective, whether it be the community, the nation state or indeed, the wider world. what do you think the covid pandemic has revealed to us about the limitations of, for example,