"GLOBAL ISSUES, LEADERSHIP CHOICES":

With elections postponed, freedom of assembly restricted, and surveillance technology in widespread use, this article from Foreign Policy considers one emerging consequence of the novel coronavirus pandemic: an acceleration and normalization of authoritarian impulses. "Over a few short weeks, a third of the world has been placed under lockdown. Soldiers maneuver military vehicles through city centers, police cars broadcast calls for citizens to disperse from public spaces, public announcements are made via drones—and all of it has become normal. The soaring death rate and rapid spread of the disease—overwhelming some of the best public health systems in the world—suggest that this dramatic response is the correct approach. While it may succeed in mitigating the spread of the coronavirus, however, the world now faces another danger: that when the virus recedes, many countries will be far less democratic than they were before March 2020. In times of crisis, checks and balances are often ignored in the name of executive power. The danger is that the temporary can become permanent." foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/30/authoritarianism-coronavirus-lockdown-pandemic-populism/