DO YOU NEED TO BE A DICTATORSHIP TO RESOLVE THE CORONA CRISIS?

7/4/2020

3. DO YOU NEED TO BE A DICTATORSHIP TO RESOLVE THE CORONA CRISIS?
There is a point of view that has emerged in the West that the relative success of China & Singapore in resolving the crisis (compared to Italy, for example) suggests that a pandemic is best solved by authoritarian political systems.
Watch this documentary and add a post discussing an aspect of it. This can be based on your opinion, linked to the course content, other examples etc. These are some questions as a starting point.

Arguments that democracies are not well set up to tackle this kind of crisis?
Why might authoritarian states be at an advantage?
What do democratic leaders have to rely on to get a lockdown?
What does this situation tell use about the power of the EU (our example of the strongest IGO in relation to its members) and sovereignty etc?
Do you think this will change European political perspectives?
For those of you studying History too (or are just interested) do you notice and parallels, and are these parallels worth making?
Is more authoritarianism desirable in Korea?
TO POST, SIMPLY USE COMMENTS FUNCTION TO ADD YOUR THOUGHTS. Remember forum etiquette - no more than 10 lines per post, focus on one main idea, use 'add'/'challenge'/'build' language if you want to respond to anyone else's points. BUT you are encouraged to post as much as you like!

1 Comment

Seb

9/4/2020 01:44:20 pm

First, for the EU, the coronavirus outbreak poses a great threat to member states’ belief about the EU. As the video mentions, the EU is known to be integrated, borderless IGOs. However, when it comes to situations like the virus outbreak, this integration seems fragile and superficial. They seek for national security rather than surviving as a united IGO. No country responding to Italy’s call for assistance shows such an integration was a fragile dream of EU but not a reality. I think after the outbreak, the public in each country would have more support towards political parties that argue isolation, leave from the EU as the public tangibly felt the weakness of the EU, which will further threatens EU’s integration.

Second, there are certainly some disadvantages of democracies to tackle this kind of crisis. As the government is basically dependent on the public’s consent and technically the public holds the power, they are more careful to carry out heavy measures such as lockdowns, ban of travel, closure of shops. They seem to calculate whether it would damage their parties’ successes in future elections, which shows another aspect of democracy. Authoritarian regime may have strengths in making decisions without much hesitation. As the government holds the absolute power, it is on them to choose what is best for the country without objections. However, this lack of objections suggests that there is no opponent to tackle the government’s decision when it is not working well. Also, I think China did not ‘win’ the outbreak because of its measures. The lockdown is literally sacrificing the population in Wuhan to prevent the disease from spreading, which does not match with human rights. Chinese government’s lack of transparency is also an issue as they have tried to cover up the outbreak, which led to the disease exploding and spreading to other countries. Overall, I believe democracies and authoritarian regime both have strengths and weaknesses but authoritarian regime is not overwhelmingly desirable.

DO YOU NEED TO BE A DICTATORSHIP TO RESOLVE THE CORONA CRISIS?

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