COVID-19 and the case for global development

• Published in: World development Vol. 134; p. 105044
• Main Authors: Oldekop, Johan A., Horner, Rory, Hulme, David, Adhikari, Roshan, Agarwal, Bina, Alford, Matthew, Bakewell, Oliver, Banks, Nicola, Barrientos, Stephanie, Bastia, Tanja, Bebbington, Anthony J., Das, Upasak, Dimova, Ralitza, Duncombe, Richard, Enns, Charis, Fielding, David, Foster, Christopher, Foster, Timothy, Frederiksen, Tomas, Gao, Ping, Gillespie, Tom, Heeks, Richard, Hickey, Sam, Hess, Martin, Jepson, Nicholas, Karamchedu, Ambarish, Kothari, Uma, Krishnan, Aarti, Lavers, Tom, Mamman, Aminu, Mitlin, Diana, Monazam Tabrizi, Negar, Müller, Tanja R., Nadvi, Khalid, Pasquali, Giovanni, Pritchard, Rose, Pruce, Kate, Rees, Chris, Renken, Jaco, Savoia, Antonio, Schindler, Seth, Surmeier, Annika, Tampubolon, Gindo, Tyce, Matthew, Unnikrishnan, Vidhya, Zhang, Yin-Fang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2020; Elsevier Science Publishers; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: 20th century; Climate Change; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Debt; Development and progression; Development Studies; Digitalisation; Digitization; Epidemics; External debt; Global Development; Global temperature changes; Global Value Chains; International Development; Pandemic; Pandemics; Paradigms; Public health; Transformation; Value chain; Viewpoint, Policy Forum or Opinion; Vignettes; Development Studies; International Development; COVID-19; Debt; Climate Change; Digitalisation; Pandemic; Global Development; Global Value Chains
• ISSN: 0305-750X; 1873-5991; 0305-750X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105044

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.