Covid-19 & the Future
of Constitutionalism
Regular readers of the COVID-DEM newsletter will know that we take a rather expansive approach to how the pandemic is affecting democracy. By 'democracy' we largely mean 'liberal democracy' - an endlessly contested concept, but we can at least say that we look far beyond Covid's impact on elections to include material on the rule of law, constitutionalism, and how we think about the future of democratic governance in the round. Our mission statement since launching in April 2020 is to focus on alternative governance (e.g. online parliaments) • democratic rights and freedoms • elections • emergency powers • power grabs • democracy versus authoritarianism in the fight against COVID-19 • and democratic reform spurred by the pandemic.
Which is why this newsletter nabs the title of an important new project, 'Covid-19 and the Future of Constitutionalism', launched yesterday with a Symposium on the IACL-AIDC Blog. Read the introductory editorial by Juliano Zaiden Benvindo, Oran Doyle and Chiara Graziani here.
In today's update we're highlighting:
- New IACL-AIDC Blog Symposium launching a new project on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for constitutionalism
- New analysis of parliaments including the IPU World e-Parliament Report
- EU focus on using Covid recovery funds to protect the rule of law
- New analyses of Japan's Suga stepping down
- Upcoming webinars for International Democracy Day
- Additional items in the Super-Blog
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⚡ IACL-AIDC Blog Symposium: Covid-19 and the Future of Constitutionalism
"It has been 18 months since COVID-19 first swept around the world. (...) The prognosis for the next 18 months is as uncertain as for the last 18 months. Nevertheless, the implications for constitutionalism have begun to crystallise. In this Blog Symposium, we explore how the pandemic has both forced us to reconsider existing issues in constitutionalism and drawn attention to new ones."
The first blog post by Prof. Arianna Vedaschi (Bocconi University, Milan) discusses how the current pandemic is challenging the theoretical differentiation between political and technical emergencies, and the practical implications of this challenge.
- Arianna VEDASCHI, ‘COVID-19 and the Notion of “Emergency”: Towards New Patterns?’ IACL-AIDC Blog (7 September 2021)
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⚡ Parliaments, Power, Performance & the Pandemic
As we have observed repeatedly in these newsletters (see e.g. here and here), the pandemic has shone a spotlight on parliaments - how they've been sidelined, challenged, but also reinvigorated. As the authors of the Symposium editorial above offer, "The ability of legislatures to operate during the pandemic has brought into sharp focus many concerns about democratic accountability and executive dominance" - watch out for a forthcoming Symposium blog post by Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov drawing together 18 months of empirical research on parliaments. In the meantime, the following is a range of new analysis:
- Article Pritam DEY & Julian MURPHY, 'Pandemic Parliamentary Oversight of Delegated Legislation: Comparing the Performance of Westminster Systems' ICL Journal (published online: 27 July 2021)
- Blog Johannes GALLON, ‘How parliament is taking itself out of the game again in the pandemic’ Verfassungsblog (3 September 2021)
- Blog HANSARD SOCIETY, ‘How the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated parliamentary modernisation’ (2 September 2021) - analysis of the IPU report below
- Report INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION (IPU), 2020 World e-Parliament Report (July 2021)
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⚡ The EU's Covid Recovery Plan & the Rule of Law
In this blog post, leading rule of law scholars argue that the EU should not release EU COVID-funding to Hungary and Poland until the clearly identified rule of law deficiencies are addressed "meaningfully and in good faith", and functioning anti-corruption measures are in place. In their view, making Covid recovery funds conditional "is the most effective way to uphold and defend the rule of law in the short term." All four authors are members of The Good Lobby Profs, a non-profit initiative acting as a rapid response mechanism to uphold the rule of law across the continent, which brings together 60+ academics (COVID-DEM Director Tom Daly is also a member).
See also: for a broader take on international order and the pandemic, see:
- THINK GLOBAL HEALTH, ‘Pandemics, Pathological Politics, and International Order’ (1 September 2021)
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⚡ Japan: Second Prime Minister Felled by Covid-19
On 3 September, Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga announced he will not seek reelection as leader of his party, making him the second prime minister dispatched in short order by the pandemic. The weeks ahead will see the presidential race take place for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Regardless of who is to succeed, the party will likely come out on top in the upcoming general election due to a weak and divided opposition. The question is, will new LDP leadership restore the public’s trust in the government’s competence to overcome the pandemic and the ability of elected leaders to show empathy and responsiveness to the public’s concerns? Only time will tell.
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⚡ Key Additional Updates on COVID-DEM
COVID-DEM is updated daily - here are a number of additional updates:
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⚡ Webinars This Month
A range of forthcoming webinars have been added to the Webinar Hub:
Happening Now
Next Week (including International Democracy Day - 15 September)
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⚡ New Blog Posts
New items in the COVID-DEM Super-Blog include:
- Chamila LIYANAGE, ‘How Authoritarian Movements Are Exploiting COVID Restriction Protests’ CARR Blog (7 September 2021)
- Lindsay F. WILEY, ‘United States: litigation challenging vaccine requirements’ LAC19 (7 September 2021)
- ⚡ Pierre DE VOS, ‘Why the constitutional court ruling on the local government election is bad news for the ANC’ Const. Speaking (4 September 2021)
- ⚡ Pierre DE VOS, ‘The ANC’s failure to register some ward candidates may have a bigger impact on its electoral performance than might be assumed’ Const. Speaking (1 September 2021)
- Aveek BHATTACHARYA & Fay NIKER, ‘What the pandemic can teach us about political philosophy’ LSE COVID-19 Blog (3 September 2021)
- Johannes GALLON, ‘How parliament is taking itself out of the game again in the pandemic’ Verfassungsblog (3 September 2021)
- Josef Franz LINDNER, ‘The 2021 federal election under the conditions of the pandemic’ Verfassungsblog (2 September 2021)
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⚡ Thank You to Our Team - and You can Join Us, Too!
Keeping COVID-DEM updated is no small task, and we are so lucky to have such a dedicated team who take such care, week after week. We're currently reviewing the latest batch of applications, so feel free to apply using this form.
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COVID-DEM is You
Every day we work with people worldwide to build this platform for improving our understanding of how the pandemic is challenging democracy, and the many ways we can defend and improve our democracies.
Our sincere thanks to every one of you who has helped us to build COVID-DEM into what it is today. Don't hesitate to send us your work and suggestions, to democraticdecay@gmail.com or through our online form.
Dr Tom Gerald Daly
Director, DEM-DEC
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Tom is the creator and Director of DEM-DEC and an academic and consultant in the area of public law, human rights, and democracy-building. Find out more here.
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