Rule of Law, Legitimacy, and Effective COVID-19 Control Technologies: Arbitrary Powers and their Influence on Citizens’ Compliance

Abstract

The project seeks to empirically demonstrate through the interrogation of selected use cases how the legitimacy of the State (measured in part through citizens’ perception of its legitimacy) may have an influence on citizens’ compliance and reception towards State-imposed COVID control measures. State legitimacy, where it relies on differing degrees of representative democracy for authority is demonstrated to be positively influenced by the Rule of Law (RoL) and other normative frames such as ethics. The paper also analyses the role and prevalence of trust and distrust and its interplay with principles of the RoL as both tempering the arbitrary exercises of power and enhancing procedural justice. The paper argues that the enhancement of both State legitimacy and citizens’ trust through RoL compliance have a positive influence on the overall efficacy of COVID control measures leading to more positive health and social outcomes for society.

The purpose of the research is not to advance one style of governance or authority over another for successful pandemic control. Rather, working from an underlying global appreciation of ethics to regulate AI-assisted technologies such as those exhibited in contemporary COVID control, the research endeavours, by contextually analysing power, authority, and legitimacy, to question whether Rule of Law compliance has an additional positive influence on COVID control and citizen-perceived legitimacy in those governance settings where trust and confidence, and not just utilitarian satisfaction, complement the State’s control potential and success.

Note:
Funding Information: This research is supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore under its Emerging Areas Research Projects (EARP) Funding Initiative.

Conflict of Interests: None to declare.

Keywords: Rule of Law, COVID-19, State Legitimacy, State Authority, Trust, Citizens Trust, COVID control, Powers, Arbitrary Powers