Paper long abstract:

Countries around the world have undertaken a wide range of strategies to halt the spread of COVID-19 and control the economic fallout left in its wake. Rural areas of developing countries pose particular difficulties for implementing effective responses owing to underdeveloped health infrastructure, uneven state capacity for infection control, and endemic poverty. In this paper, we examine the critical role of local government in coordinating pandemic responses. Drawing on empirical material from Himachal Pradesh, India, we show how local elected governments - known as panchayats - have served as a forum for communities to organize collective responses to local challenges, facilitated the delivery of state support, and otherwise served as a critical node for state and non-state actors to coordinate interventions. Local governments have been particularly important for safeguarding the welfare of the poor, who have been most affected by economic hardship. In the present case, we argue that the capacity of local institutions in Himachal Pradesh is rooted in histories of political change as well as long-term state support for these institutions in carrying out key grassroots state functions over the past several decades. The analysis underscores the need to move beyond a narrow focus on institution building to undertake longer-term investments in supporting more robust subnational democratic systems as a cornerstone of more resilient governance systems in the face of shock -- from COVID-19 and beyond. Governance, we argue, will be as important to understanding the trajectory of COVID-19 impacts and recovery as biology, demography, and economy.