Democracy in times of the pandemic: explaining the variation of COVID-19 policies across European democracies

Abstract

In fighting the spread of COVID-19, the drastic measures undertaken by governments worldwide demonstrate a trade-off between public health and fundamental democratic principles. Yet this behaviour is not consistent across democracies, which motivates this paper to examine why some democracies were willing to constrain individual freedoms and concentrate power more than others during the pandemic's first wave. Creating two indices to measure the degree to which COVID-19 policies interfere with these democratic principles in 34 European countries, the analyses show that the large variation cannot be solely explained by pandemic-related factors. It is argued that the strong protection of democratic principles already established in 'normal' times makes governments more reluctant to opt for restrictive policies. By highlighting how differences in policy responses are attributed to provisions guaranteeing individual liberties, this paper contributes to a better understanding of how democracies handle the democratic dilemma in times of crises. KEYWORDS COVID-19; public health policies; democracy; fundamental rights; state of emergency; public health crisis The COVID-19 pandemic came fast and hit hard. After the virus spread in China in early 2020, it did not take long until Italy, as the first European country, had to deal with a strong rise in daily SARS-CoV-2 infections. When the situation got out of control, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte proclaimed a nation-wide lockdown. Most European CONTACT Sarah Engler

COVID-19: a dual challenge to European liberal democracy

“…how COVID-19 politics affect democracy. Engler et al (2021) draw on data covering 34 European democracies and note large cross-country variation in the extent to which governments were willing and able to constrain individual liberties and concentrate power in the executive. The latter observation is reinforced by Bolleyer and Salát (2021) in their six-country comparative analysis of restrictions placed on parliamentary policy making under the influence of the pandemic.…”

Political Performances of Control During COVID-19: Controlling and Contesting Democracy in Germany

“…Political literature has mostly pointed to the dangers that the COVID-19 pandemic posed to democratic systems worldwide. Both theoretical and empirical work highlights that the crisis had had detrimental effects on democratic systems across the globe (Afsahi et al, 2020;Stasavage, 2020;Engler et al, 2021). Most obvious is the temporary cutback in the democratic rights of citizens such as freedom of movement, expression, and assembly.…”

“…Even though Germany, as an established democracy, was to expect a less severe impact than newer or weaker democracies (Rapeli and Saikkonen, 2020), scholarship enumerates a few significant effects of the pandemic on the German democratic system. Specifically, the crisis caused the regression of individual democratic freedoms and the loss of importance of legislative bodies in favor of the executive as well as science as a non-elected "semi-sovereign" (Hildebrand, 2020;Merkel, 2020;Ramadani, 2020;Engler et al, 2021). The decline of democratic decisionmaking processes was accompanied and possibly reinforced by the temporal "self-silencing of the opposition in both politics and society, " notably also of the media, leading to a wide acceptance of the "new normality" (Merkel, 2020).…”

“…Besides showcasing some of the political styles used to perform and contest institutional control, the comparative analysis reveals that political performances of control in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic were crucially characterized by constant appeals to the idea(l) of democracy when framing the pandemic and "lockdown." Even though Germany figured within the European average with regard to the legal restrictions to democratic freedoms (Engler et al, 2021), the articulation of democratic principles, especially the trade-off between pandemic-related restrictions and civil rights, played a dominant role from Merkel's TV address onward and further crystallized in the context of the particularly strong anti-lockdown Querdenken mobilization in Germany. The salience of the concept and lived reality of democracy in Germany during the crisis distinguishes the German case from other European countries and renders it interesting for further analysis.…”

“…Finally, an original empirical dataset, including rich ethnographic data on the PEGIDA movement is generated, which provides novel insights into both institutional and grassroots politics. The analysis offers a basis for a nuanced understanding of the political situation in Germany ahead of the 2021 parliamentary elections and elaborates on the contested meaning of democracy during the COVID-19 pandemic (Afsahi et al, 2020;Merkel, 2020;Rapeli and Saikkonen, 2020;Stasavage, 2020;Engler et al, 2021).…”