Institutional vulnerabilities, COVID-19, resilience mechanisms and societal relationships in developing countries

Published date01 September 2021
Date01 September 2021
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/13582291211031381
Subject MatterArticles
2021, Vol. 21(3) 288 –307
Article
Institutional vulnerabilities,
COVID-19, resilience
mechanisms and societal
relationships in developing
countries
Mary Assumpta Nalwoga Kiwanuka
Abstract
In this article the author submits that COVID-19 pandemic challenges could be utilised as
an opportunity to reform government institutions to develop resilience measures that
would potentially meet contemporary and future challenges. It will highlight that the
current approach of institutions has failed to meet societal need. It focuses on developing
countries, particularly the continent of Africa, drawing on results from a qualitative study
of a justice institution of Uganda as a case study that explored how institutions coped to
maintain societal relationship during the pandemic. Results suggested that, despite the
pandemic challenges, institutions suffer epistemic issues that require critical examination
for states to develop policies that would facilitate institutional reform to gain resilience
mechanisms needed to meet contemporary and future societal challenges. A vulner-
ability theoretical framework is introduced and suggested as the remedy.
Keywords
COVID19, developing countries, vulnerability, access to justice, societal relationship,
Uganda
Introduction
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Novel Coronavirus (COVID 19)
a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. First reported in Wuhan, Hubei province of
University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK
Corresponding author:
Mary Assumpta Nalwoga Kiwanuka, University of Portsmouth, St Georges Building, 141 High
Street, Portsmouth PO1 2HY, UK.
Email: icj00717@myport.ac.uk
International Journalof
Discrimination and theLaw
ªThe Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/13582291211031381
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Kiwanuka 289
China, the coronavirus has caused unprecedented disruption on human interactions
worldwide (Kirigia and Muthuri, 2020). Health experts confirm its transmission
from person to person through respiratory droplets as well as directly through
touching surfaces and other fomites (WHO, 2020b). The Emergency Event Database
(EM-DAT) indicates that 220,000 disastrous events happened worldwide since 1900
but identifies only the 1918–1919 Spanish influenza as having reached a similar
magnitude to COVID 19 (WHO). Historians have compared the scale of disruption to
that of the aftermath of the second world war. The capability of Government insti-
tutions worldwide to adapt innovatively to new mechanisms with the potential to
foster societal resilience has been severely tested. These challenges have left insti-
tutions vulnerable, particularly in terms of strengthening health care systems, while
conversely accelerating the substantial technological adaptation required. The vul-
nerability of institutions is reflected in the loss of lives reported in established
countries, such as Italy, the United Kingdom and Greece, which were the epicentres
of the virus, (see WHO COVID-19 tracker).
In this article the author explores how institutional vulnerability was managed to
achieve improvement and to establish resilience against future challenges. Whilst under-
standably health institutions have been the focus of attention during the COVID 19 pan-
demic, this article focuses on justice systems in developing countries, mainly the African
region utilising Uganda as a case study. Wilson (2018) highlights the importance of
examining institutional vulnerability during crises to identify research gaps within sys-
tems. The current author proposes that an analysis of COVID 19 challenges presents an
opportunity for institutional reform and resilience-building to meet current and future
challenges. Fineman’s universal vulner ability theory (2007) is utilised, and a multi -
disciplinary approach undertaken to support this analysis.
The article is structured in four sections: Following the introduction which high-
lights the catastrophic disruption caused by COVID 19, the next section broadly con-
textualises the related challenges in the context of the continent of Africa. It suggests
that, despite the low mortality rate, COVID 19 made the existing suffering worse. While
currently undergoing a transition towards the transformation of policies and the
restructuring of institutions, the author suggests that policies developed from laws that
derive from the western liberal framework have failed to meet societal needs. In the
search for a new approach, the author suggests the consideration of universal vulner-
ability theory as offering a potential remedy. The third section will introduce vulner-
ability theory, its development and application. In introducing the theory’s potential
application to the African continent, a detailed analysis will be undertaken which
outlines the two competing schools of thought, presenting the arguments for and
against each perspective and its potential as key a the ory for informing current debates
on contemporary social issues. In the third section the author contends that universal
vulnerability theory has the potential to facilitate African continental strategies for
developing policies to counter contemporary challenges. The fourth section demon-
strates the theory’s potential application using a small study of the Ugandan justice
system and its response to the challenges presented by COVID 19. The final section
consists of a discussion and conclusion.
2International Journal of Discrimination and the Law XX(X)

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