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The IUP Journal of International Relations

'Second Image Reversed' and Covid-19: A Global Comparative Analysis of the Pandemic's Early Phase

Article Details

Pub. Date	: Jan, 2024
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of International Relations
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJIR020124
Author Name	: Raju Parakkal
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: Arts & Humanities
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 38

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Abstract

The determinants of the Covid-19 pandemic have been analyzed from various disciplinary perspectives. Absent in this literature has been an analysis of this pandemic using theoretical structures from the international relations discipline. This paper fills that gap by employing the "Second Image Reversed" framework from international relations theory to identify the various country-level characteristics-economic, political, social, lockdown policy, leadership, and health system-that explain cross-country variations in Covid-19 cases and deaths during the early phase of the pandemic. The study employed non-parametric methods of analysis, namely, bootstrap regression models and nearest-neighbor matching, on a global dataset to empirically examine the aforementioned factors as possible determinants of Covid-19 cases and deaths during this early period. The results variously highlight the importance of income inequality, social quality, lockdown policies, the head of government, and a country's healthcare model as key factors in explaining differences in Covid-19 cases in countries around the world during the early phase of the pandemic. The results were, however, not statistically significant in explaining Covid-19 deaths.

Introduction

The Covid-19 pandemic, which changed the lives of people and societies all over the world in 2020 and beyond, has been analyzed from various disciplinary perspectives. While much of the Covid-19 scholarship has been developed in the health disciplines, there have also been works from other disciplines such as economics, public policy, and political science. One missing piece in this vast literature is a study that employs theoretical lenses from the international relations discipline.

The present study seeks to fill that gap by employing "the Second Image Reversed" theoretical framework from international relations to examine various social, political, and economic factors responsible for country-level variations in Covid-19 cases and deaths around the world. Since SARS-CoV-2-the coronavirus that causes Covid-19- spread to all corners of the globe, the question arises as to why countries experienced different levels of infections and deaths from this virus, relative to others, despite the onset of a common global pandemic. In other words, what relevant country