Special Issue Call EJDR: The Development Impacts of COVID-19 at Home and Abroad: Politics and Implications of Government Action

The unprecedented shock of COVID-19 has served to demonstrate the essential role of governments when the market-based economic system is jeopardised by circumstances that cannot be controlled by voluntary personal actions alone. At the same time, COVID-19 shows the consequences of globalization, whereby actions in one part of the world can have consequences for the entirety of humanity and actions by national governments may be of limited effect if they are taken outside of global unison. The interventions by governments are unprecedented, both in terms of the actions taken to curtail liberties and the scale of public investment. There are likely to be long-term consequences for the lives of everyone as we look to the future.

Government actions have been justified by the mantra “we are all in this together”. And yet, decisions over what actions are taken, where and how resources are expended, and how the impacts of these actions will be ultimately assessed are political. Whilst governments worldwide are claiming that their responses are ‘responsive and equitable’, it is reasonable to expect that the impacts of COVID-19 will turn out to be highly inequitable. Those who we might expect to be disproportionately impacted will be those whose voices are muted in policy processes; in past crises, these were the poor, women, racialized minorities, etc., both at home and abroad. Looking to the world post-COVID-19, we need to consider and give voice to marginalised groups, especially in an era of unprecedented public sector deficits, likely paralleled with dramatic increases in within- and between-countries inequalities.

It is the role of academic research, and in particular of those whose work focuses on marginalised people across the world, to draw attention to the impacts of events like COVID-19 and how governments respond. Thus, the European Journal of Development Research (EJDR) has decided to publish a special issue on the development impacts of COVID-19 that focuses on the need for government responses not to exacerbate prevailing marginalisation and inequalities. This issue will be in addition to the regular five EJDR issues published annually, with submissions being reviewed through an accelerated process so that this issue can be published at the latest by the end of 2020.

To ensure that the special issue encompasses diverse perspectives, we encourage proposals across a diversity of academic approaches, including from development studies, economics, political economy, political science, sociology and anthropology. We especially encourage authors from low and middle-income countries to contribute to the special issue. It is envisaged that the special issue will include analyse that employ diverse methods, including quantitative, qualitative and mixed approaches. More broad-based policy analyses and case studies are also welcome.

Some of the topics that might fit well in the special issue include:
• Implications for low and lower middle-income countries.
• Impacts of COVID-19 on the poor.
• COVID-19 and food security.
• Role of social protection in mitigating the impacts of COVID-19.
• Potential impacts through labour market dualization and casualization.
• Impacts on migration patterns and refugees and asylum seekers.
• Implications for the volume and focus of industrialized country aid to developing countries.
• COVID-19, trade and global integration.
• Long-term implications for public health in the context of development.
• Implications for global cooperation in development.
• What can we learn from those poorer countries that have been most successful at controlling the spread of COVID-19?
However, this list is only meant to be and submissions on other topics are welcome.

Prospective authors are asked to submit a one-page abstract of their planned submission to Natalia Lorenzoni, EJDR Managing Editor (n.lorenzoni@outlook.com) as soon as possible.

Abstracts will be reviewed by the editorial team for fit with the special issue and the quality of the underlying analysis. Authors will receive feedback within one week of submitting their abstract. Successful authors will be given a period of six weeks to submit the final manuscript. All manuscripts will be peer-reviewed within a period of four weeks.

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