COVID-19 and the Global Political Economy: Same as it Never Was?

Abstract

This introductory article outlines how Global Political Economy and the nuanced perspectives of scholars from this interdiscipline navigate claims about the origins and consequences of, as well as responses to, the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging social scientific assessments have tended to understand the pandemic as either an entirely novel crisis (“everything has changed”) or one merely extending preexisting economic and political tensions (“nothing has changed”). Early analyses of political-economic aspects of the crisis assembled in this collection instead highlight both patterns of continuity and change—and the importance of situating changes within prepandemic continuities—that have emerged during the first year of the global pandemic. This introductory article brings together suggestions by and for Global Political Economy scholars, as well as social scientists more generally, for further researching key dynamics shaping the global political economy in the COVID-19 era as it keeps unfolding and evolving.

Economic Narratives and the Legitimacy of Foreign Direct Investments

“…At the same time, the results can also help our understanding of the unfolding backlash against unfettered globalization in present-day politics (Campbell-Verduyn et al, 2021;Lavery & Schmid, 2021;Meunier & Nicolaidis, 2019;Schmitz & Seidl, 2022;Trubowitz & Burgoon, 2020;Weinhardt & ten Brink, 2020). Many studies have attributed the rise of anti-globalist forces to the growing threats to local cultures brought about by technological advances and immigration, or economic grievances suffered in the aftermath of the North Atlantic financial crisis.…”