Governing Covid-19 in India’s cities

State capacity, legitimation and the reproduction of public authority

Datos Bibliográficos

ID13045314
AutoresGlyn Williams (0000-0003-0293-5574, Lund University, autor de correspondencia), Darshini Mahadevia (0000-0002-5597-7228, Ahmedabad University), Karen Coelho (0000-0003-4275-6802, Madras Institute of Development Studies), Binitha V Thampi (0000-0001-8998-420X, Indian Institute of Technology Madras)
Año2026
Páginas1-17
Fecha de publicación2026-02-06
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaTerritory Politics Governance (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2162-2671 • E-ISSN: 2162-268X
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21622671.2026.2618155
OpenAlexW7128169692
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas37

Conceptualising public authority as continually performed, this paper traces the interplay between modes of legitimation, state capacity and scalar politics in governing the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite attempts to unify COVID responses nationally, governance practices differed across India’s cities: Ahmedabad (Gujarat) heightened policing, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) engaged its decentralised governance institutions, and Chennai (Tamil Nadu) sought to universalise welfare provision. National-state political dynamics shaped these differences, but performing public authority under crisis conditions also required innovation based around pre-existing legitimating ‘scripts’ and state capacity. By enacting an expanded, responsive local state, these performances can indicate possible pathways towards more inclusive disaster responses

Bureaucracy · Corporate governance · Legitimacy · Legitimation · Local government · Politics · Public authority · Reproduction · State (computer science · Global Development and Urbanization · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · Water Governance and Infrastructure