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This event shows how much today\u2019s democracies are threatened by the coronavirus, as countless governments increase their control over their inhabitants and take draconian measures<\/a> to stop the spread of the epidemic. The fine line between necessary efforts and authoritarian-oriented actions is barely perceptible, and as the deadly virus spreads, so does the fear that some leaders are taking advantage of the crisis to strengthen their grip on power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exceptional times call for exceptional measures and some actions have definitely already contributed greatly to curbing the extension of the virus. But are all these measures truly necessary or are some of them more a threat to democracy? Despite how conspirationist this sounds, we should take time to reflect on the possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, COVID-19 has infected over a million people and killed more than 100 000. Since the start of the epidemic and its spread to the world in january 2020, many countries have displayed monumental efforts to subdue the pandemic. Over half of the world\u2019s population has been confined, and this has greatly contributed to reduce the spread of the virus and avoid further overload of hospitals: according to the Imperial College of London<\/a>, 59 000 deaths have been avoided in Europe thanks to isolation and social-distancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other necessary measures have been taken such as closing down borders and key regions. But some countries have also harshened sanctions on government criticism and reduced freedom of speech. Surveillance apps and drones to track down contaminations have been implemented. Streets have become increasingly militarized and paced by countless police patrols. Courts have been shut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout history, health crises and pandemics have been punctuated by expansions of states\u2019 powers. For instance, during the plague epidemic of the early 17th century, a law was passed in England allowing authorities to shut the sick in their houses for six weeks. This is understandable, but the Plague Act of 1604 that made criticizing these and other measures illegal is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today\u2019s coronavirus crisis continues to fuel the democracy crisis and governmental contestations that many countries have gone through in 2019, as many claim that fundamental freedoms are being threatened by these strict measures. Indeed, it is undeniable that some governments such as Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s are definitely taking advantage of the situation and the fear and confusion that surround it. China announced that it was working to expel western journalists on its territory. By closing courts, israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu once again delayed his scheduled appearance to face corruption charges. Some states are using the pandemic to crack down on dissent. In Jordan, Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said his government would \u201cdeal firmly\u201d with anyone who spreads \u201crumors, fabrications and false news that sows panic.\u201d Moreover, in France, amid the crisis, the widely criticized and contested pension reform was passed quietly, without a vote, with the help of the 49.3 <\/a>article of the french constitution. Because quarantine measures are enforced, protesters can\u2019t take it to the streets to denounce the opacity of governments in these times of crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main concern of critics is the potential stay of the measures after the virus is dealt with. \u201cA primary concern is that if the public gives governments new surveillance powers to contain Covid-19, then governments will keep these powers after the public health crisis ends,\u201d said Adam Schwartz<\/a>, attorney at the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation<\/a>. \u201cNearly two decades after the 9\/11 attacks, the U.S. government still uses many of the surveillance technologies it developed in the immediate wake.\u201d American whistleblower Edward Snowden <\/a>also claimed during an interview with Vice<\/a> that \u201cNo matter how it is being used, what is being built is the architecture of oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As of now, we have no way of knowing how governments will evolve as the pandemic continues to unfold and after it is controlled. However, it is certain that our societies and states will emerge profoundly shaken. Chinese Professor Gu Su<\/a> of Nanjing University told Bloomberg<\/a> that governments \u201cshould be allowed to concentrate and expand their power, to some extent, to handle the crisis more efficiently\u201d. We can only hope that this looming authoritarian drift will fade away when the epidemic is finally stopped, although it seems quite unlikely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The COVID-19 crisis has raised concerns about governments using the pandemic to consolidate power.\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_appearance_masonry":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,73,131,80,78],"tags":[157,158,159,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-5058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-covid-19","8":"category-good-health-wellbeing","9":"category-pandemic","10":"category-politics","11":"category-society","12":"tag-authoritarianism","13":"tag-covid19-governance","14":"tag-democracy-crisis","15":"tag-short","16":"cs-entry","17":"cs-video-wrap"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5058"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5451,"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5058\/revisions\/5451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnblue.org.ng\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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