A post-pandemic democratic renaissance?
As leading authoritarian states exploit that Covid-19 pandemic to pursue a strategy of “co-option, coercion, and concealment,” as H.R. McMaster has summarized it, the old liberal order may rapidly… Read more »
Search Results for: pandemic
COVID-19 pandemic reveals malfeasance, misrule & maladroit propaganda
In the absence of global democratic leadership, China is taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to proclaim the superiority of its authoritarian model, notes Keith B. Richburg, director of the… Read more »
The Peronist & the pandemic: Argentina’s new hegemony or social chaos?
Argentina’s president, Alberto Fernández, and the country he leads are entering a dangerous new phase, the Economist reports. Pressure to ease the lockdown is building before the pandemic has peaked…. Read more »
Pandemic of power grabs: Autocrats’ opportunity in disaster
Even as some leaders exploit the COVID-19 pandemic, their inability to deal with popular suffering will act against the myth that they and their regimes are impregnable, the Economist observes…. Read more »
How China’s authoritarian model made Covid pandemic worse
China must be held accountable for the coronavirus outbreak, as thousands of lives could have been saved if it had acted earlier, says a leading human rights advocate. The Chinese… Read more »
‘Dynamism Despite Disruption’: Will pandemic undercut or rejuvenate civil society
In many countries, restrictive laws already had been squeezing civil society before the Covid-19 crisis hit. The pandemic provides a convenient cover for governments to further tilt the balance of power… Read more »
Democracy during pandemic – a help or hindrance?
The coronavirus has given rise to a flood of conspiracy theories, disinformation and propaganda, eroding public trust and undermining health officials in ways that could elongate and even outlast the… Read more »
Pandemic populist pandemonium? Dictators using coronavirus to strengthen grip
A contagion on the scale of the coronavirus may offer authoritarians a greater opportunity than any event short of war, Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council… Read more »
Do autocracies or democracies handle pandemics better?
If democracies cannot cooperate to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the result could be a “decisive global shift” toward China’s authoritarian model, one analyst suggests. Three factors appear to… Read more »
Hard truths about China’s ‘soft power’: How Beijing exploits pandemic
History accelerates in crises. This pandemic may not itself transform the world, but it can accelerate changes already under way, notes FT analyst Martin Wolf: One ongoing change has been… Read more »