Lahore Journal of Policy Studies
Special Issue on Covid-19
Call for Papers

Dear Sir/Madam

We intend to take out the next issue of the Lahore Journal of Policy Studies on Covid-19. The novel Coronavirus has come as a major calamity out of the blue leading to a sudden economic halt across the world. There had been other pandemics earlier but the response was never so severe, widespread and universal. The Third World acted largely on the basis of scientific predictions and policies originating in Developed Countries without any policy based on locally grounded scientific/medical knowledge. With the high death rate reported from Italy and Spain followed in a couple of months by even higher deaths in US and UK the world was terrorized. The fast pace of statistics did not allow for a cool headed debate and reflection nor did people have any facts on which to develop some degree of understanding and make an opinion. Except for a few critical special publications, the media has been more interested in statistical reporting than any critical analyses.

With the passage of time many riddles and paradoxes, have come to the fore and call for reflection. There is need to explore these riddles and paradoxes because many revelations are likely to come out of these. For instance,

• Why have there been far more deaths in the prosperous and highly developed countries of US and Britain than in the countries of the Third World

• Why have there been far more deaths in the urban areas which have more awareness and healthcare facilities compared to the backward rural areas

• Is the pandemic primarily a medical issue to be dealt with by doctors or a socioecological issue to be dealt with through political debate and policy

• What has been our experience of pandemics in the past. In India whether it was bubonic plague, Spanish flu or smallpox, in each instance the epidemic continued for many decades. What communities and what geographies were affected. What conditions brought the disease under control

• What was the role of vaccines in ending the pandemics

• What was the relation of poverty to the number of deaths and why? Was it because of hygiene or was it because of food and healthcare

• What is the relationship between our economic goals of productivity and development and the onset of disease

• Industrial agriculture including deforestation, monocultures, genetic selection and animal feed lots have greatly increased production. What is its relationship with the pandemics

• The growth of giant cities in the Third World has created new environment for the spread of disease. Why has this aspect not been highlighted in the coronavirus debate

• What is the role of globalization of commodity production, services and people in the generation and spread of pandemics

• Where has this virus come from? Has the frequency of deadly viruses like Ebola, MERS, SARS, Corona, H1N1 increased in the past few decades? Is there any common process of generation between them

• How has the pandemic changed the ecologies of work such as education, commerce, health, entertainment and hospitality

• The impact of the lockdowns on gender inequality
You may choose a topic or write generally about the impact and origin of the disease.

Submission of abstracts 30th September 2020
Submission of final papers 30th November 2020
Whatever contributions we receive by the end of October 2020 will pass through a process of refereeing before they are accepted.

Please mail queries and abstracts to rabianadir@gmail.com

Rabia Nadir
Editor, Special Issue
Lahore Journal of Policy Studies
http://lahorejournalofpolicystudies.org/

Note: The Lahore Journal of Policy Studies is a refereed journal. The journal has a broad scope, covering national, regional and international political, economic, social and cultural issues of immediate relevance to public policy. It aims to be a forum for significant new ideas and seeks to challenge thinkers and intellectuals to policy debate. It is neither a journalistic magazine nor an overly technical one. Rather, it is a scholarly journal containing provocative, thoughtful, but well-researched writings with an educated and discerning readership in mind. It seeks originality and rigour of argument. The selection of papers will be based on topicality, originality, clarity, the extent to which they advance knowledge, understanding and application and their likely contribution towards inspiring further development, research and debate.