COVID-19 and the case for global development

Johan A Oldekop; Rory Horner; David Hulme; Roshan Adhikari; Bina Agarwal; Matthew Alford; Oliver Bakewell; Nicola Banks; Stephanie Barrientos; Tanja Bastia; Anthony J Bebbington; Upasak Das; Ralitza Dimova; Richard Duncombe; Charis Enns; David Fielding; Christopher Foster; Timothy Foster; Tomas Frederiksen; Ping Gao; Tom Gillespie; Richard Heeks; Sam Hickey; Martin Hess; Nicholas Jepson; Ambarish Karamchedu; Uma Kothari; Aarti Krishnan; Tom Lavers; Aminu Mamman; Diana Mitlin; Negar Monazam Tabrizi; Tanja R Müller; Khalid Nadvi; Giovanni Pasquali; Rose Pritchard; Kate Pruce; Chris Rees; Jaco Renken; Antonio Savoia; Seth Schindler; Annika Surmeier; Gindo Tampubolon; Matthew Tyce; Vidhya Unnikrishnan; Yin-Fang Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105044

COVID-19 and the case for global development

World Dev. 2020 Oct:134:105044. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105044. Epub 2020 Jun 20.

Authors

Johan A Oldekop¹, Rory Horner¹, David Hulme¹, Roshan Adhikari¹, Bina Agarwal¹, Matthew Alford², Oliver Bakewell¹, Nicola Banks¹, Stephanie Barrientos¹, Tanja Bastia¹, Anthony J Bebbington^{1

3}, Upasak Das¹, Ralitza Dimova¹, Richard Duncombe¹, Charis Enns¹, David Fielding¹, Christopher Foster¹, Timothy Foster⁴, Tomas Frederiksen¹, Ping Gao¹, Tom Gillespie¹, Richard Heeks¹, Sam Hickey¹, Martin Hess⁵, Nicholas Jepson¹, Ambarish Karamchedu¹, Uma Kothari¹, Aarti Krishnan¹, Tom Lavers¹, Aminu Mamman¹, Diana Mitlin¹, Negar Monazam Tabrizi¹, Tanja R Müller^{1

6}, Khalid Nadvi¹, Giovanni Pasquali¹, Rose Pritchard¹, Kate Pruce¹, Chris Rees¹, Jaco Renken¹, Antonio Savoia¹, Seth Schindler¹, Annika Surmeier^{1

7}, Gindo Tampubolon¹, Matthew Tyce¹, Vidhya Unnikrishnan¹, Yin-Fang Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester, UK.
² Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, UK.
³ Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, USA.
⁴ Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, UK.
⁵ Department of Geography, The University of Manchester, UK.
⁶ Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, The University of Manchester, UK.
⁷ Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Abstract

COVID-19 accentuates the case for a global, rather than an international, development paradigm. The novel disease is a prime example of a development challenge for all countries, through the failure of public health as a global public good. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the falsity of any assumption that the global North has all the expertise and solutions to tackle global challenges, and has further highlighted the need for multi-directional learning and transformation in all countries towards a more sustainable and equitable world. We illustrate our argument for a global development paradigm by examining the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic across four themes or 'vignettes': global value chains, digitalisation, debt, and climate change. We conclude that development studies must adapt to a very different context from when the field emerged in the mid-20th century.

Keywords: COVID-19; Climate Change; Debt; Development Studies; Digitalisation; Global Development; Global Value Chains; International Development; Pandemic.