1st Edition
The Politics of the Pandemic in Eastern Europe and Eurasia Blame Game and Governance
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the political impact of the COVID-19 emergency in central and eastern Europe and Eurasia. Offering a theoretical framework linking the authoritarian, post-Soviet institutional legacy with patterns of political behavior, support and governments’ policies, the expert contributors argue that domestic political regimes mediate and shape citizens’ perceptions of public health crises, and the very regimes’ political survival. The authors explore how the pandemic affected regime change, government stability, business groups and civil societies in more than 15 countries of the region from the discovery of the virus to the vaccination rollout. The studies rely on a broad range of empirical evidence from the region – survey, state statistics, ethnography and interviews.
Formulating, explaining and empirically testing the causal mechanisms that drive political accountability and support through a cross-country comparison and in-depth case studies of popular and electoral support attempting to highlight any patterns specific to the region, this book contributes to studies of governance and political accountability in low-trust countries with authoritarian legacies and proclivities. Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach that brings together area studies, history, sociology and political science, it will also be of value to those interested in systematic effect of political regimes on handling public health crises.
Introduction. Facing the Global Pandemic: Regimes, Governance, and Post-Communism
1. (No) Blame for the Crisis: COVID-19 Sceptics and Political Support in Central-Eastern Europe During COVID-19
Margarita Zavadskaya and Valeria Caras
2. Legislative Advantages of Multiple Crises in the Europe In-Between
Katalin Miklóssy
3. State-Building, The EU, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Making of Healthcare Reform in Ukraine
Ryhor Nizhnikau
4. Bad Governance in Times of Exogenous Shocks: The Case of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Russia
Vladimir Gel’man
5. Authoritarian Responses to Protest Participation During COVID-19: The Russian Case
Eemil Mitikka
6. Survival and Adaptation of Small Business in Russia: A Double Blow of Bad Governance and the Pandemic
Diana Kurtametova and Anna Tarasenko
7. Protest as an Appeal: How and Why Russians Struggled with Vaccinations in 2021
Aleksandra Rumiantseva, Alexandra Arkhipova, Irina Kozlova and Boris Peigin
8. The State Failing People’s Expectations: Resentment at the Pandemic Policy in Belarus and Kazakhstan
Kristiina Silvan and Shugyla Kilybayeva
9. The COVID-19 Pandemic and The Performative State in Uzbekistan
Mirzokhid Karshiev and Kristiina Silvan
Biography
Margarita Zavadskaya is a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) and researcher at the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki. She obtained her doctoral degree in social and political sciences from the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy.
