Call for Papers: Thematic Dossier "The Neolilberal State in the pandemic"

The pandemic caused by Covid19 precipitated an unprecedented synchrony of crises of great depth and breadth, the consequences of which should be felt for a long time and in different dimensions of life. From the outset, the limits of the neoliberal order and the impotence of the minimal state that had inspired public policies around the world were made explicit in a dramatic way. In the face of the calamity, almost all countries have resorted to unprecedented aid packages that reach 30% of GDP. With no time for ideological rashes, governments of varying colors have abandoned the banner of fiscal austerity by increasing public spending either by issuing money or by expanding public debts. The importance of sound public health systems accessible to all has quickly become a global consensus. Governments took over payrolls, while guaranteeing students of different ages and grades access to remote classes. On the economic front, large private companies have been totally or partially nationalized and legal restrictions on the export of strategic goods have multiplied.
But what paths should national states follow in the post-covid? How should Latin American countries deal with unemployment rates of the order of 30% like those that are foreshadowed? What political-institutional arrangements will need to be erected to avoid the precariousness of our living conditions? How to guarantee the wide offer of public goods for the population as a whole in nations that have lost sovereignty with the advance of globalization and that are increasingly impotent in the interests of transnational companies? How can we avoid that the burden of the crisis does not fall on the most vulnerable social groups and further aggravate the abject inequalities that were advancing with neoliberalism?
Faced with this situation of enormous uncertainties and great questions, we are making a call for the publication of the second issue of the Codas Notebook, organized in the form of thematic dossier “The neo-liberal state in a pandemic”.