The corona crisis is just beginning. We must assume that it will last more than a year. We start with a lockdown ("suppression"), then relax the measures, but reintroduce some of them whenever and wherever needed. How is this crisis going to affect politics? A few thoughts.
In my view, the corona crisis is going to change the character and role of the state in western democracies. For decades, the state was a distant entity for most people. Now, suddenly, the state plays a central role in everybody's everyday life.
The state becomes vital in the proper sense -- what the state does or fails to do becomes a matter of life or death for many. The most basic role of the state has always been to provide security, protection against getting killed. Now we see this basic, raw state back in action.
Because this is a matter of life and death, the state is asking for extraordinary authorities. The state declares the state of emergency which means: fundamental freedoms are suspended. The democratic state is more powerful than ever; he is as powerful as an autocratic state.
This works only because it is a temporary exception, and because the suspension of fundamental freedoms is accepted by citizens in the name of a higher good, the protection of life on a large scale, human security.
The state not only plays a central role in the fight against the "attack" by the pandemic. It also plays a central role in protecting the society and the economy against the side effects of this fight: the massive economic crisis.
Suddenly, many individuals and groups become dependent on handouts by the state -- who in many countries is paying quasi-salaries in an attempt to minimize disruptions.
The state is back as patriarch: protecting the individual through tough measures, putting the citizen - for a while - in the position of a dependent quasi-child; and as the nanny state, taking directly care of people.
Macron said this most clearly: "La Nation soutiendra ses enfants" / "The nation takes care of its children". elysee.fr/emmanuel-macro…
From citizens to dependent children: that's what many Western democracies are experiencing these days.
And yet a sweeping majority of citizens accept the temporary suspension of their freedoms.
Because they fear the virus, and because they trust the state.
And yet a sweeping majority of citizens accept the temporary suspension of their freedoms.
Because they fear the virus, and because they trust the state.
This trust must be deserved by governments; earned by leaders every day. Citizens accept a temporary suspension of their rights and freedoms: but the power is only borrowed from the people, not transferred lastingly.
Governments must demonstrate that they are able to do whatever it takes to fight the virus. They must demonstrate that their measures are in line with top-notch scientific expertise; and that their action is proportionate and effective.
This is a big social and political experiment; everybody is learning by doing. We're just at the beginning of a long journey into unexplored territory. TBC.
