When COVID-19 meets conflict: Politics and locally-led responses to the pandemic in fragile and conflict-affected states
Abstract as pdf
Corresponding Author:
Dr Rodrigo Mena
International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands
mena@iss.nl
Author(s):
Prof. Dr. Thea Hilhorst1
1International Institute Of Social Studies (ISS) Of Erasmus University Rotterdam, Hilhorst@Iss.Nl, NLD
The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified existing crises and vulnerabilities, yet much remains unknown on how the pandemic affected fragile and conflict-affected settings. Also, about community-level responses to both, the pandemic and top-down/ official responses. This paper builds on disaster studies' theory that hazards become a disaster in interaction with vulnerability and response policies, yet often lead to renewed disaster risk creation. The paper is based on seven case studies of countries that experienced social conflict and state-society disarticulation at the advent of the pandemic outbreak: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Haiti, Zimbabwe, Philippines, India, Brazil and Chile. The case studies have been implemented by master students and PhD researchers residing at the International Institute of Social Studies, on the basis of secondary sources and remote interviews conducted between April and August 2020. The results have been published in multiple blog posts and a series of working papers and reports, as detailed below in the description of the cases. This paper is based on a qualitative meta-analysis of those results using a thematic content analysis, focusing on: (1) vulnerabilities and their relation with disaster risk creation and disaster (COVID-19) impact, (2) instrumentalisation and securitisation of COVID-19 responses, (3) top-down and locally/community-led responses to COVID-19, and (4) the effect and relationship between the COVID-19 disaster and social conflict. A fifth and important analytical theme was understanding how community and local level responses responded to the effects of COVID-19 and the effects and new risks created by top-down and official responses. A literature review on the topic was conducted guided by the same themes, consisting of books, journal articles, reports, and news articles. Given the recent developments on the subject of study and the importance of capturing information on a wide range of actions and responses, the review also included grey literature and audio-visual material. Findings show that authorities instrumentalised COVID-19 to strengthen their control and agendas. While taking responsibility for lockdowns, this was not accompanied with care to mitigate the adverse effects. Social conflict and crises shaped community responses, as high levels of mistrust in authorities complicated the implementation of measures, while authorities did not support community-based coping initiatives. The paper concludes that whether COVID-19 will trigger or exacerbate conflict and vulnerabilities depends on pre-existing, country-specific conditions, and how a government and other actors frame and respond to COVID-19.
Community response to crises and disasters: From preparedness to practices