Revisiting State Capacity from the Responses to COVID-19: Comparative Research on Latin America

SARS-CoV-2 spreading globally and the pandemic of COVID-19 provides a sort of stress-test to the states and citizens all around the world, which help us revist the concept and measurement of state capacity. Looking at the responses and results across Latin American countries in relation to the exogenous impact of COVID-19, this research project aims to elaborate a noble cross-national scale of state capacity for the region and beyond. This project involves four Japanese scholars and research partners in Latin American countris. After a few initial years during which we build a comparative framework, we test it empirically by collecting original data thorough survey or other methods.