COVID-19 and crises of capitalism: intensifying inequalities and global responses

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed multiple structural flaws of global capitalism. These have been reproduced through the intensification of inequalities and reinforced through policy responses that have failed to protect the most vulnerable from the health and socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has also revealed the materiality of human activity and complex geographies of inequality. It has highlighted how inequalities embedded in relations of production, reproduction and global finance continue to perpetuate the divide between the Global North and South. Using an interdisciplinary political economy lens with a focus on the Global South, this Special Issue brings together contributions that explore the dynamics underpinning the intensification of inequalities during the pandemic and that analyse the initial policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis. RÉSUMÉLa pandémie de COVID-19 a révélé plusieurs failles structurelles du capitalisme mondial. Celles-ci se sont multipliées du fait de l'intensification des inégalités, et elles ont été renforcées par des interventions politiques qui n'ont pas su protéger les plus vulnérables de l'impact sanitaire et socio-économique de la COVID-19. La pandémie de COVID-19 a également révélé la matérialité de l'activité humaine et la géographie complexe des inégalités. Elle a montré comment les inégalités présentes dans les relations de production, de reproduction, et de finance globale perpétuent la division entre le Nord et le Sud planétaires. Ce numéro spécial concentre son analyse sur le Sud planétaire, appliquant une approche interdisciplinaire à l'économie politique. Y sont réunies des contributions explorant les dynamiques qui sous-tendent l'intensification des inégalités durant la pandémie, et analysant les premières réactions politiques à la crise causée par la COVID-19.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the energy market – A comparative relationship between oil and coal

“…On the supply side, the oil production reduction agreements reached by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a number of non-OPEC oil-producing countries have been slow to implement and failed to make clear commitments to reduce production [ 42 , 43 ]. Worries about oversupply have increased.…”

Gender, Food and COVID-19

“…At the global level, this pandemic has reconfirmed that current expression of neoliberal capitalism is inherently unequal and persistently excludes marginalized social groups during crisis (e.g., Stevano et al, 2021). We observe its wide range of economic and social consequences on marginalized people all over the world, especially women and children from disadvantaged backgrounds.…”

The Ethnographic Quest in the Midst of COVID-19

“…Is it not that the pandemic has revealed the deep-rooted structural inequalities between the Global North and South? It is hardly surprising that the health and socio-economic failures generated by the combination of SARS-CoV-2 and the ingrained inequalities of global capitalism ( Sparke & Williams, 2022 ; Stevano et al, 2021 ) have profoundly affected the marginalised people of the world. We might thus ask: how are indigenous societies confronting this catastrophic scenario?…”