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The Covid-19 pandemic is the latest in a series of cascading crises of global capitalism that have both exposed and intensified a systemic problem of social and regional inequality that has in fact been unfolding in the advanced economies for more than four decades. There are growing calls for ‘rebuilding back better’ from the pandemic, for redesigning capitalism to make it more equitable and sustainable. This paper argues that regional studies has a key role to play in shaping and informing such an agenda, but that to do so requires a rethinking of our research priorities, theoretical frameworks and normative commitments. As part of such a rethinking, the paper calls for a progressive–melioristic turn in regional studies, for a transformative vocation committed to the pursuit of equitable and just regional outcomes.
Ron Martin (Fri,) studied this question.