Pandemic Backsliding? A Comparative Study of Democracy under the Virus Threat

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has threatened socio-economic security on a global scale. Democracy has been put to the test by the spread of COVID-19, with two main arguments having arisen: 1) COVID-19 is contributing to a trend of democratic backsliding; 2) states with illiberal practices are better at handling the outbreak than are states with liberal practices. This paper answers these two arguments. In the first section, using data from various sources, this paper examines three trends to counter the democratic backslide argument: the maintenance of democracy, fallen democracy, and autocracy. The paper shows that COVID-19 has contributed very little to the decline of democracy and, in actuality, democratic backslide that occurred in 2020 happened due to factors that existed even before the outbreak—COVID-19 was merely a reflector or trigger point for states struggling with democracy. In the second section, this paper argues that states with autocratic practices may be able to contain the spread of the pandemic, but in comparison with democratic states, they are unable to manage the pandemic crisis, resulting in a larger death rate and economic decline. As such, the pessimistic belief that the COVID-19 pandemic is bringing about the fall of democracy may be overstated.

Keywords: COVID-19, Pandemic outbreak, Democratic backsliding, comparative study