State Fragility, Business, and Economic Performance: An Ethiopian Perspective (Palgrave Studies in Democracy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship for Growth)

The collection examines state–society relations during the COVID-19 pandemic, from governance at the outset of the pandemic to vaccine rollouts, via a series of case studies from around the world. With a focus on the Global South, the book includes chapters on the experiences of – Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Jamaica and Indonesia as well as contributions from the Global North – on Sweden, Canada, Czech Republic and New Zealand. The collection demonstrates that the effects of the pandemic can only be properly revealed by looking at the regional and local contexts in which states and societies experienced it. Contributors examine themes such as the nature of contemporary democracy, state capacity, the legitimacy of state institutions, and trust in government, questions of social solidarity, and forms and impacts of inequality. Focusing on national (or sub-national) cases, each chapter analyses the underlying forces and structures revealed when the authority of the state is brought to bear on the agency of citizens under emergency conditions. In doing so, contributors embed analysis of pandemic governance in the historical context of each country or region, highlighting how political choices, histories of the state’s treatment of citizens and the orientations of a region’s elites shaped the actions taken by the state. The book will be of interest to those looking to understand how the pandemic was interpreted, accepted, or contested at the local (national or sub-national) level and to those interested in state–society relations more generally. It will appeal to scholars and students interested in questions of pandemic government from a social scientific point of view and especially to those interested in perspectives from the Global South. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Series Editor Introduction Preface List of Abbreviations Introduction – A ‘Rapid Test’: States and Societies Through the Lens of the COVID-19 Pandemic Part I Decentring the Pandemic 1 ‘The Country’s Problem Is Not the Coronavirus’: Multiple Crises in Bolivia 2 Recentring the Necropolitics of COVID-19: A Perspective From Angola 3 COVID-19 and Non-State People: Uncompromised Wild Food Consumption in Binga, Zimbabwe Part II Exclusion and Inequality 4 Viral Contradictions: Canadian Exceptionalism and COVID-19 5 Unequal Pandemics: COVID-19 in Jamaica 6 Protecting the Vulnerable? COVID-19 Policy in Sweden Part III State Capacity and Legitimacy 7 Brazil: Tragedy and Political Choices in the Face of COVID-19 8 COVID-19 and Political Crisis: State Capacity and Defiance in Argentina 9 Negotiating Ritual Life in Indonesia: State and Worship in Times of COVID-19 Part IV Trust, Solidarity and Time 10 Mutations of Democracy: Aotearoa New Zealand’s COVID-19 Response 11 Populist Governance in Times of Crisis: COVID-19 in the Czech Republic 12 Rallying the Nation: Institutional Trust and South Africa’s Pandemic Experience Index The growing number of states with weak capacity to carry out basic governance functions is leading to unacceptable levels of human suffering. Using Ethiopia as a case study, this book acknowledges the multidimensional nature of state fragility and highlights the non-political factors that drive it. The first part uses institutional theory to explore how weak institutions become a source of state fragility by undermining social cohesion and the broader economic progress of countries. Part two examines the role of entrepreneurship and industrial policy as a means of creating and sustaining economic and political stability, trade policy as a means of increasing incomes and easing tensions, and technology policy as a means of engaging people in entrepreneurship and innovation. The final chapter provides lessons that fragile nations can learn from successful developing countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America. This book will appeal to researchers interested in international business, economic and business policy, international trade, and emerging markets who seek to understand how fragile states can promote sustainable peace and development.