Book title

Unequal Contagion: Citizenship, Democracy, and the Politics of COVID-19 in India

'Covid-19 in the States: Sub-National Democratic Capabilities'

Abstract

This chapter analyzes how the COVID-19 pandemic tested democratic capabilities at the subnational level. It argues that the crisis exposed not only core dimensions of state capacity but also the relational forms of power needed to secure public cooperation in highly unequal societies. It shows that national-level analyses overlook these dynamics by focusing narrowly on formal democracy and fixed bureaucratic resources, whereas the subnational level better captures how state agencies interact with civil society to coordinate high-touch health and welfare responses. It explains why state governments in India became the central actors during the pandemic and how political competition, state–society relations, and local institutions shaped state performance in health and welfare responses. These factors were key in mobilizing resources, inducing compliance, and mitigating inequalities. In doing so, the chapter demonstrates that subnational democratic capabilities are critical both for crisis response and for strengthening equitable state action more broadly.

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Year

2026

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