Democracy in times of the pandemic: explaining the variation of COVID-19 policies across European democracies
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In: West European Politics, Vol. 44, No. 5-6, 19.09.2021, p. 1077-1102.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Democracy in times of the pandemic
T2 - explaining the variation of COVID-19 policies across European democracies
AU - Engler, Sarah
AU - Brunner, Palmo
AU - Loviat, Romane
AU - Abou-Chadi, Tarik
AU - Leemann, Lucas
AU - Glaser, Andreas
AU - Kübler, Daniel
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021/9/19
Y1 - 2021/9/19
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - COVID-19
KW - democracy
KW - fundamental rights
KW - public health crisis
KW - public health policies
KW - state of emergency
KW - Politics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103409067&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01402382.2021.1900669
DO - 10.1080/01402382.2021.1900669
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85103409067
VL - 44
SP - 1077
EP - 1102
JO - West European Politics
JF - West European Politics
SN - 0140-2382
IS - 5-6
ER -