Kathmandu School of Law Review

P-ISSN : 2091-2110, E-ISSN : 2773-8159, DOI : 10.46985, Publisher : Kathmandu School of Law, Nepal
Annual flagship journal of Kathmandu School of Law, Nepal

Volume 8, Issue 2, November 2020
Articles

Up The Down Staircase: COVID-19 Paves way for Modern Authoritarianism

PDF
  • Nikita Mohan
    ,
  • Sanjana Hooda
Nikita Mohan
Final Year Student of Law from Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), O. P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat
Sanjana Hooda
Final Year Student of Law from Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), O. P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46985/kslr.v8i2.2149

Published 2021-06-27

How to Cite

Mohan, N. ., & Hooda , S. . (2021). Up The Down Staircase: COVID-19 Paves way for Modern Authoritarianism. Kathmandu School of Law Review, 8(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.46985/kslr.v8i2.2149
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Abstract

The global pandemic has shaken the foundational notions that characterize modern society. A host of rights that dignify our life have had to be sacrificed, with the new ‘normal’ arguably resembling a life reduced to mere existence. Moving into the post-COVID world, we must critically appraise our condition. This essay attempts perspectives on some of the political implications of COVID-19. Through a consideration of ancient philosophies of the likes of Plato and Aristotle, the justification for the institution of the State and why humankind resorts to it, especially in times of crises, has been established. Further consideration of the State’s responses to past global crises, of the Spanish Flu and the Influenza Pandemic, help one understand how such an institution often rules out political concerns and motivations, as opposed to serving the ‘common good’. This is followed by a discussion of the advent of contemporary authoritarianism in the post-COVID world and on the ideology of populism. The concluding part of this essay deliberates on the political landscape of the post-COVID world. While the authors are in no position to conclusively lay down what the post-COVID world will bring forth, they encourage viewing the pandemic as an opportunity to re-evaluate our political choices and rediscovering the power of mutual aid and solidarity as we refuse to return to ‘normal’, rather than treating COVID-19 as an irreversible setback for political rights and emancipation. Humankind must thus climb up the down staircase in approaching the post-COVID world.

PDF

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

  1. Plato, ‘The Republic’, in Giovanni R. Ferrari (ed), Plato: The Republic (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 10th edition, 2012, p. 63.
  2. Michelle Bachelet, ‘Addressing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on minority ethnic communities’, Office of the High Commissioner Human Rights (OHCHR) United Nations, 2020, available at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26541&LangID=E, accessed on 01 August 2020.
  3. Shelley Tremain, ‘Governing COVID in Brazil: Ableism and Authoritarianism’, Biopolitical Philosophy, 2020, available at https://biopoliticalphilosophy.com/2020/04/18/governing-covid-in-brazil-ableism-andauthoritarianism/, accessed on 21 June 2020.
  4. Amy L. McGuire et al., ‘Ethical Challenges Arising in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Overview from the Association of Bioethics Program Directors (ABPD) Task Force’, The American Journal of Bioethics p.15, volume 20:7, 2020, p. 16.
  5. Tremain (n 4).
  6. Amitai Etzioni, ‘Common Good’, in Michael T Gibbons (ed), The Encyclopedia of Political Thought, John Wiley and sons Ltd, 2014, pp. 4-6.
  7. Eduardo J. Gómez & Sandro Galea, ‘Politics May Kill Us, Not the Coronavirus’, Think Global Health, 2020, available at https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/politics-may-kill-us-not-coronavirus, accessed on 20 June 2020.
  8. Max Haiven, ‘Postscript: After the pandemic – against the vindictive normal’, in Revenge Capitalism: The Ghosts of Empire, the Demons of Capital, and the Settling of Unpayable Debts, Pluto Press, London, 2020, pp. 204-208.
  9. The phrase ‘up the down staircase’ means using one’s failure or shortcomings to succeed. It has been used by us in the context of COVID-19, which also explains the title of this essay.
  10. Vicanne Adams, ‘Disasters and Capitalism…and COVID-19’, Somatosphere, 2020, available at http:// somatosphere.net/2020/disaster-capitalism-covid19.html/, accessed on 22 June 2020.
  11. Michael Gagarin & Paul Woodruff (eds), Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995, p. 23.
  12. R. S. Bluck, ‘Plato’s ‘Ideal’ State’, The Classical Quarterly p.166, volume 9:3-4, 1959, pp. 166-168.
  13. Olivera Mijuskovic, ‘Aristotle’s concept of the state’, Socrates p.13, volume 4:4, 2016, p. 18.
  14. Ferrari (n 1), p. 423.
  15. Ibid, p. xix.
  16. Robert C. Bartlett & Susan D. Collins (eds), Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2011, p. 1166a15-23.
  17. Carolyn Ray, ‘Egoism in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics’, Independent Study on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Indiana University, 1989, available at https://enlightenment.supersaturated.com/essays/text/carolynray/ aristotleegoism.html, accessed on 03 August 2020.
  18. Mijuskovic (n 13), p. 18.
  19. Aristotle, ‘The Politics’, in H. W. C. Davis (ed), Aristotle’s Politics, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, London, 1805, pp. III.1.1274b32-41.
  20. Peter Green, Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age, University of California Press, California, 1st edition, 1993, p. 29.
  21. Ibid, p. 30.
  22. Rafey Habib, ‘Identity and Difference: Plato and Aristotle on Democracy’, The University College of Ripon and York, 1998, available at https://habib.camden.rutgers.edu/talks/plato-and-aristotle/, accessed on 25 July 2020.
  23. Ibid.
  24. Naomi Reshotko, ‘Socrates and Plato on ‘Sophia, Eudaimonia’, and Their Facsimiles’, History of Philosophy Quarterly p.1, volume 26:1, 2009, p. 2; Howard J. Curzer, ‘The Supremely Happy Life in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics’, Apeiron p.47, volume 24:1, 1991, p. 49.
  25. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1914, p. 96; Robert Ladenson, ‘In Defense of a Hobbesian Conception of Law’, Philosophy & Public Affairs p. 134, volume 9:2, 1980, p. 140.
  26. Ibid, p. 103; Tom Sorell, ‘Thomas Hobbes’, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020, available at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Hobbes, accessed on 28 July 2020.
  27. Max Weber, ‘The Theory of Social and Economic Organization’, in A. M. Henderson & Talcott Parsons (eds), Max Weber: The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, The Free Press, New York, 1947, pp. 129198.
  28. Paul Russell & Jean Hampton, ‘Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition’, Journal of the History of Philosophy p. 620, volume 27:4, 1989, p. 621.
  29. Martin Karlsson, Therese Nilsson & Stefan Pichler, ‘The impact of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic on economic performance in Sweden: An investigation into the consequences of an extraordinary mortality shock’, Journal of Health Economics p.1, volume 36, 2014, pp. 2-3.
  30. Mark Osborne Humphries, ‘Paths of Infection: The First World War and the Origins of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic’, War in History p.55, volume 21:1, 2014, pp. 55–81; Howard Phillips, ‘The Re-appearing Shadow of 1918: Trends in the Historiography of the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic’, Canadian Bulletin of Medical History p.121, volume 21:1, 2004, p. 57.
  31. Mark Honigsbaum, ‘Regulating the 1918–19 Pandemic: Flu, Stoicism and the Northcliffe Press’, Medical History p.165, volume 57:2, 2013, p. 170.
  32. Adam Kamradt-Scott, ‘Changing Perceptions: of Pandemic Influenza and Public Health Responses’, AM J Public Health p.90, volume 102:1, 2012, p. 90.
  33. Ibid, pp. 90-98.
  34. Kamradt-Scott (n 32), p. 92.
  35. Ibid, p. 93.
  36. Mat Burrows & Peter Engelke, ‘What World POST-COVID-19?: Three Scenarios’, Atlantic Council, 2020, p.
  37. , available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep24634?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents, accessed on 29 July 2020.
  38. Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan, ‘Uniting the Nations or Dividing and Conquering? The United Nations’ Multilateralism Questioned—A Third World Scholar’s Perspective’, Irish Studies in International Affairs p.35, volume 29, 2018, pp. 35-51; Michael Byers et al, ‘VOICES FROM THE OUTSIDE: SOVEREIGN EQUALITY, INTERNATIONAL LAW, AND THE IMBALANCE OF POWER’, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law) p.43, volume 99, 2005, pp. 43-55.
  39. Byers et al (n 37), p. 50.
  40. ‘authoritarianism’, Lexico: Powered by Oxford, available at https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/ authoritarianism, accessed on 30 July 2020.
  41. Bruce Romanish, ‘Authority, Authoritarianism, and Education’, Education and Culture p.17, volume 12:2, 1995, p. 18.
  42. Hannah Arendt, ‘What is Authority?’, Between Past and Future, The Viking Press, New York, 1961, p. 97.
  43. Ibid, p. 92.
  44. Robert Mayer, ‘Strategies of justification in authoritarian ideology’, Journal of Political Ideologies p. 147, volume 6:2, 2001, p. 149.
  45. Cas Mudde, ‘The Populist Zeitgeist’, Government and Opposition p.541, volume 39:4, 2004, p. 542.
  46. Ibid, p. 543.
  47. Jan-Werner Müller, ‘The people must be extracted from within the people: Reflections on Populism’, Constellations, p. 1, volume 21:4, 2014, p. 11.
  48. Ibid.
  49. Lorenzo Viviani, ‘A Political Sociology of Populism and Leadership’, SOCIETÀMUTAMENTOPOLITICA p.279, volume 8:15, 2017, p. 289.
  50. Ibid, p. 287.
  51. Mudde (n 44), p. 547.
  52. Florian Bieber, ‘Global Nationalism in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic’, Nationalities Papers p.1, 2020, p. 3; Talmiz Ahmad, ‘Self-Absorbed, Uncaring, Incompetent: COVID Has Exposed Populist Leaders for What They Are’, The Wire, 2020, available at https://thewire.in/politics/trump-bolsonaro-jognson-modipopulistleaders-covid, accessed on 25 July 2020.
  53. Ben Stanley, ‘The thin ideology of populism’, Journal of Political Ideologies p.95, volume 13:1, 2008, p. 102.
  54. Ahmad (n 51).
  55. Bieber (n 51), p. 4.
  56. Patricia J. Williams, The Alchemy of Race and Rights, Harvard University Press, United States of America, 1991, p. 78.
  57. Bieber (n 51), p. 4.
  58. Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, translated by Daniel Heller-Roazen, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1998, p. 21.
  59. Ayten Gündoğdu, ‘Potentialities of human rights: Agamben and the narrative of fated necessity’, Contemporary Political Theory p.2, volume 11:1, 2012, p. 6; Amy O’ Donoghue, ‘Sovereign Exception: Notes on the Thought of Giorgio Agamben’, Critical Legal Thinking, 2015, available at https://criticallegalthinking.com/2015/07/02/sovereign-exception-notes-on-the-thought-of-giorgio-agamben/, accessed on 28 July 2020.
  60. Bieber (n 51), p. 6.
  61. Akash Bisht & Sadiq Naqvi, ‘How Tablighi Jamaat event became India’s worst coronavirus vector’, Aljazeera, 2020, available at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/tablighi-jamaat-event-india-worstcoronavirusvector-200407052957511.html, accessed on 28 July 2020.
  62. Jeffrey Gettleman, Kai Schultz & Suhasini Raj, ‘In India, Coronavirus Fans Religious Hatred’, The New York Times, 2020, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/world/asia/india-coronavirus-muslimsbigotry.html, accessed on 25 July 2020.
  63. Eric Taylor Woods et al., ‘COVID-19, nationalism, and the politics of crisis: A scholarly exchange’, Nations and Nationalism p.1, volume 26:4, 2020, p. 11.
  64. Ibid.
  65. Woods et al. (n 62), p. 10.
  66. Makau Mutua, ‘Savages, Victims, and Saviors: The Metaphor of Human Rights’, Harvard International Law Journal p. 201, volume 42:1, 2001, p. 203.
  67. Ibid, p. 205.
  68. Woods et al. (n 62), p. 15.
  69. Andy E. Williams, ‘COVID-19 and The Hidden Cost of Reduced Civil Liberties’, 2020, available at https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/scnza/download, accessed on 4 July 2020.
  70. Ajnesh Prasad, ‘The organization of ideological discourse in times of unexpected crisis: Explaining how COVID-19 is exploited by populist leaders’, Leadership p. 294, volume 16:3, 2020, p. 300.
  71. Liu Xiaoming, ‘China has valuable lessons for the world in how to fight COVID-19’, Financial Times, 2020, available at https://www.ft.com/content/ad61f0ea-8887-11ea-a109-483c62d17528, accessed on 29 July 2020.
  72. Katie Rogers, Lara Jakes & Ana Swanson, ‘Trump Defends Using ‘Chinese Virus’ Label, Ignoring Growing Criticism’, The New York Times, 2020, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/us/politics/ china-virus.html, accessed on 30 June 2020.
  73. Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Penguin Random House, London, 2018, p. 27.
  74. Bieber (n 51), p. 4.
  75. Slavoj Žižek, ‘Is Barbarism with a Human Face Our Fate?’, Critical Inquiry, 2020, available at https://critinq.wordpress.com/2020/03/18/is-barbarism-with-a-human-face-our-fate/, accessed on 22 June 2020.
  76. Manoj Kr. Bhusal, ‘The World After COVID-19: An Opportunity for a New Beginning’, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications p.735, volume 10:5, 2020, p. 739.
  77. Alexandra Wrage, ‘The Pandemic Will Be a Boon for Good Government’, Foreign Policy, 2020, available at https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/16/future-government-powers-coronavirus-pandemic/, accessed on 4 July 2020.
  78. Alessandra Spadaro, ‘COVID-19: Testing the Limits of Human Rights’, European Journal of Risk Regulation, p. 317, volume 11:2, 2020, p. 323.
  79. Yanis Varoufakis, ‘Yanis Varoufakis: Marx predicted our present crisis – and points the way out’, The Guardian, 2018, available at https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/apr/20/yanis-varoufakis-marxcrisiscommunist-manifesto, accessed on 03 August 2020.
  80. Marx & Engels n (72), p. xxix.