The Subnational State and Crisis Response

Understanding Pandemic Governance across India
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-09441-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 164 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 413 g

How did India’s states confront the challenge of COVID-19? And what insights does this experience offer for future crisis response?

This book explores the varied impacts of the pandemic and the policy responses undertaken across India’s states and union territories, bringing together nationwide quantitative analysis with five in-depth case studies of Bihar, Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Moving beyond the numbers, the case studies examine how differences in state capacity, legitimacy, and authority shaped policy responses and pandemic outcomes. Focusing on the first two waves of the pandemic, the volume shows how this early period provides a valuable snapshot of state functioning under crisis conditions—marked by profound uncertainty and limited information.

This volume offers new insight into one of the most consequential global crises of our time. It is important reading for students and scholars of public policy, political science, economics, and South Asian studies. It will also engage policymakers, journalists, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the factors that influence how states respond when it matters most.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Core

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gisselquist, Rachel M.

Kundu, Anustup

Sen, Kunal

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Umwelt- und Gesundheitspolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 The subnational state and the impact of COVID-19 across India 2 The COVID-19 pandemic and state myopia in Bihar 3 The social foundations of (in)effective states: the COVID-19 pandemic and Uttar Pradesh’s response 4 State capacity in mitigating health emergencies: a case study of COVID-19 response in West Bengal 5 The role of state capacity and clientelism in shaping COVID-19 pandemic responses in Kerala 6 Pandemic precarity, state capacity, and governance fault lines: interrogating the paradoxical case of Maharashtra 7 Concluding thoughts

Über Autor(innen)

Rachel M. Gisselquist is Professor in Governance and Development, and Director, Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC), University of Birmingham, UK.

Anustup Kundu is an Associate Researcher at UNU-WIDER and a Visiting Researcher at the University of Helsinki.

Kunal Sen is Professor of Development Economics in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, and former Director of UNU-WIDER.