Chapter 1: Globalization, Political Economy, Business and Society in Pandemic Times

The coronavirus “SARS-CoV-2,” since its outbreak in China in the beginning of January 2020, developed into a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020 and a COVID-19 pandemic on March 11, 2020. Within only one year, this ongoing pandemic killed 3 million people and infected 120 million more worldwide. Although in history humanity was plagued by countless epidemic including AIDS, Avian flu, SARS, MERS, Ebola, and Zika in recent decades, the current COVID-19 pandemic finds no parallel in terms of scale, scope and speed with which the impact has been caused. To problematize this unprecedented phenomenon to produce interesting knowledge with policy implications, we organized a multidisciplinary academic conference (5^th EMIC) at Stockholm University during May 14–15, 2020, and this edited book is a product of the conference.