As much as the COVID-19 pandemic currently seems to generate comparatively low numbers of recorded cases and victims in Africa, its wide-ranging social, political and economic effects are already apparent. African governments’ responses to the emergency partly mirrored the containment and mitigation measures adopted in Europe, but they collided with a social and economic environment where lockdowns and social distancing are simply not sustainable. From a political point of view, the pandemic risks triggering new forms of instability as well as impacting on electoral processes and democratic practices, whereas the economic disruption brought about by the crisis is bound to cause Africa’s first recession in twenty-five years. What scenarios can be envisaged for a post-pandemic Africa?
European University Institute
Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA)
Overseas Development Institute
ISPI Associate Research Fellow
Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies
Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies
The Coffee Gardens
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Africa Center For Strategic Studies
University of Québec in Montréal (UQAM) and Centre FrancoPaix
Center for Strategic and International Studies