Governing in a Pandemic

“A timely and incisive volume, this book shows how pandemic governance reflects a deeper political reality in the Middle East and North Africa, where crisis has become a governing logic. Theoretically rich, grounded in deep case studies, and covering broad empirical terrain, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the evolving nature of authoritarian resilience, social inequality, and the politics of ‘permacrisis’ in our time” - Melani Cammett, co-author of A Political Economy of the Middle East

“In Governing in a Pandemic, scholars in and of the MENA region use the COVID-19 crisis as a natural experiment to probe the underlying ‘permacrisis’ of the region. Through chapters using institutional as well as survey data, the authors provide important comparative insights -from Iran to Israel’s West Bank settlements. Timely and theoretically astute, the collection advances scholarship on contested trajectories of authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa.” - Jacqueline Stevens, author of States Without Nations: Citizenship for Mortals

“Governing in a Pandemic argues that authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and North Africa have turned crisis into a permanent mode of rule. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, it describes the use of technocratic control, surveillance, and crisis narratives to reinforce power. It thus offers an important alternate way to understand governance in an era of continuous disruption.” - Douglas J. Besharov, co-editor of Work and the Social Safety Net: Labor Activation in Europe and the United States

Anis Ben Brik is with the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society, Institute of Communication and Public Policy, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland. His research focuses on the political economy of welfare systems, the institutionalization of evaluation, and governance reform in rentier states, the MENA region and Global South contexts. His recent books include Social Welfare in Qatar; Public Policy in the Arab World; and The Institutionalization of Evaluation in the Middle East and North Africa.

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