Pandemic challenges and models of democracy

The Global and Social Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2022

This contribution focuses on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a phenomenon that discloses problems of freedom within liberal democratic institutions. Many different governmental COVID-19-related restrictions, while useful and helpful, have faced criticism that they unjustifiably restrict freedom. At times this criticism comes from extreme liberal (or libertarian) quarters but there have also been concerns that those from disadvantaged minority groups have been overlooked in the pandemic-related decision-making. It has been argued that having “a voice” is central in the context of liberal democracy. Following Philip Pettit (On the people’s terms. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012), it can be said that having an effective voice is necessary for freedom. Further supporting this, according to Axel Honneth (Freedom’s right. Polity Press, Cambridge, 2014) freedom is the key value of modern liberal institutions. According to Pettit, freedom thus requires that parties to democracy be given an equal voice that is unconditioned and efficacious. Thus, the problems with democratic participation are major wrongs precisely because they are explicit transgressions against freedom. But how to reconcile this with the justifiable and legitimate feasibility limits of decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic? Time-consuming deliberation is not possible in a “state of exception” when decisions must be made quickly. This paper defends the view that feasibility limits are real and it might well be unrealistic to expect all voices to be heard during the decision-making at a time of crisis. Nevertheless, responses to a pandemic ought to be made in a way that does not forget the multiple, varied voices constituting the public sphere. Examining the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 and responses to it helps reveal the injustices that have been entrenched into democratic institutions. It highlights the voices that are not automatically taken into account even without extreme circumstances. Thus, a pandemic functions as a tragic disclosure of the injustices of the institutional order, a disclosure that should be used to argue for institutional renewal and better representation of underrepresented groups.

Democracy in Times of Pandemic

As countries around the world went into lockdown, we turned to 32 leading scholars working on different aspects of democracy and asked them what they think about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted democracy. In this article, we synthesize the reflections of these scholars and present five key insights about the prospects and challenges of enacting democracy both during and after the pandemic: (1) COVID-19 has had corrosive effects on already endangered democratic institutions, (2) COVID-19 has revealed alternative possibilities for democratic politics in the state of emergency, (3) COVID-19 has amplified the inequalities and injustices within democracies, (4) COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for institutional infrastructure for prolonged solidarity, and (5) COVID-19 has highlighted the predominance of the nation-state and its limitations. Collectively, these insights open up important normative and practical questions about what democracy should look like in the face of an emergency and what we might expect it to achieve under such circumstances.

Democratic Theory, 2020

As countries around the world went into lockdown, we turned to 32 leading scholars working on different aspects of democracy and asked them what they think about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted democracy. In this article, we synthesize the reflections of these scholars and present five key insights about the prospects and challenges of enacting democracy both during and after the pandemic: (1) COVID-19 has had corrosive effects on already endangered democratic institutions, (2) COVID-19 has revealed alternative possibilities for democratic politics in the state of emergency, (3) COVID-19 has amplified the inequalities and injustices within democracies, (4) COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for institutional infrastructure for prolonged solidarity, and (5) COVID-19 has highlighted the predominance of the nation-state and its limitations. Collectively, these insights open up important normative and practical questions about what democracy should look like in the face of an emergency and what we might expect it to achieve under such circumstances.

GAPAC Papers, 2020

Considering the current pandemic as an expression of the environmental variable, it seems that we are now barely short of the military to complete the picture of a globalized crisis that is taking down on regimes and societies across the orb. Contagion and despotism reinforce each other, based on manipulation, fear and uncertainty

Globalization and democratization have long been questioned by powerful Western European countries such as the United States of America (USA), France and Britain, who regard these two movements as almost organic elements of their foreign policy. This questioning, which intensifies with the sharpening of global economic conditions, seems to have serious consequences for the future of the Western Alliance. This period comes with ethical and political dilemmas that will profoundly affect the modern individual's view of world politics. In a system where there are no mechanisms to allow non-state actors to participate in government on a global scale, mass protest and destructive moral questioning are inevitable. This situation has become evident with the new type of corona virus epidemic (Covid 19) that has shaken the world since the beginning of 2020. The Covid crisis has demonstrated that human rights and freedoms enshrined in universal human rights conventions have not been adequately respected. Though beyond the focus of this paper, the migration crisis created by the civil war in Syria and the current state of affairs after the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan are clear cases in this respect. This paper focuses on the dilemmas that politics and ethics in the face of radical, global changes.

Democratic Theory, 2020

As countries around the world went into lockdown, we turned to 32 leading scholars working on different aspects of democracy and asked them what they think about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted democracy. In this article, we synthesize the reflections of these scholars and present five key insights about the prospects and challenges of enacting democracy both during and after the pandemic: (1) COVID-19 has had corrosive effects on already endangered democratic institutions, (2) COVID-19 has revealed alternative possibilities for democratic politics in the state of emergency, (3) COVID-19 has amplified the inequalities and injustices within democracies, (4) COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for institutional infrastructure for prolonged solidarity, and (5) COVID-19 has highlighted the predominance of the nation-state and its limitations. Collectively, these insights open up important normative and practical questions about what democracy should look like in the face of an emergency and what we might expect it to achieve under such circumstances.

2020

https://doi.org/10.47191/ijsshr/v6-i7-43, 2023

Covid 19 pandemic is an external factor that imposed itself on the global stage. Societies are considered open systems that can be influenced by the pandemic. This research will firstly explore the obligatory etiquettes that have been imposed on people's lifestyles by the emergence of Covid-19 pandemic. Secondly, it will study the triggering effect of Covid-19 pandemic on the populist environment. Thirdly, it will investigate the relationship among Covid-19, populism, and democratic systems. A qualitative research methodology will be used, specifically a phenomenological hermeneutic analysis of the phenomenon of populism in the Covid-19 pandemic crisis environment and its effect on democratic rights. Additionally, the different responses of populists towards the Covid-19 pandemic will be studied in order to see whether populist rhetoric triggers democratic decay of rights.

2020