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GLOBAL
DEMOCRACY &
COVID-19:
UPGRADING
INTERNATIONAL
SUPPORT

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Global Democracy & Covid-19: Upgrading international support                                  

CONTENTS

SUMMARY2

INTRODUCTION4

DEMOCRACY IN THE PANDEMIC5

UNPACKING THE THREATS TO DEMOCRACY8

DEMOCRATIC PUSHBACK                                                                          16
DEMOCRACY SUPPORT IN THE PANDEMIC & BEYOND 22

RECOMMENDATIONS27

ENDNOTES34

PHOTOCREDITS39

    AUTHORS Richard Youngs (Carnegie Europe); Elene Panchulidze (Georgian Institute of
    Politics).

    REVIEW TEAM Peter Sondergaard (EED); Victoria Bruce (EED); Sam Van der Staak
    (International IDEA); Marilyn Neven (International IDEA); Laura Thornton (International
    IDEA); Chad Vickery (IFES); Christopher Walker (NED); Ken Godfrey (EPD); Tom Cormier
    (Parliamentary Centre).

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SUMMARY
This report assesses the                  organisations concerned with
                                          supporting democracy globally should
impact that Covid-19 is
                                          respond to the Covid-19 crisis. It
having on democracy                       advocates: a global monitoring of
around the world.                         Covid-19 related democratic
                                          infringements; new ways of including
It examines how international             democracy efforts into Covid-19
democracy support organisations and       emergency and recovery aid; an
donors are responding to the              enhanced support of democratic civic
challenges related to the pandemic and    activism that has emerged during the
calls for a stronger and reformulated     pandemic; a new multilateral initiative
international democracy support both      to learn lessons from how democracies
now and into the longer-term future.      have coped with the crisis; and an
Rather than getting immersed in           effort to explore the growth in new
inconclusive debates about which kind     types of democratic practice that have
of political system is set to deal best   proliferated under Covid-19. Through
with Covid-19, the report calls for a     these recommendations, the report
more practical policy effort to ensure    offers guidance to democracy
that democratic norms are defended        organisations and donors as they
and work in a way that is tightly         endeavour to keep democracy on the
relevant to the pandemic. While           international agenda during the global
democratic systems may have several       health crisis, as well as for civil society
potential advantages in fighting          organisations adjusting their strategies
pandemics and their aftermath, these      to the altered context. These issues are
need to be proactively fostered. The      also of broader relevance to
report demonstrates that the pandemic     governments and citizens around the
is having distinctive political           world given the challenge of sustaining
implications across different types of    Covid-19 measures over the
regime. Policy responses need to be       longer-term that do not trample on
tailored to these contrasting outcomes    basic democratic practices.
and risks in the way they seek to
advance and uphold democratic rights.

Aligning with the recent ‘Call to
Defend Democracy’ and based on an                       Disinfo
assessment of crisis-related democratic
trends, the report offers five concrete
recommendations for how
governments and international

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INTRODUCTION
While Covid-19’s tragic                    committed to doing so. The radically      ‘The pandemic
                                           altered political environment calls on
death toll1 is above any                                                              sharpens the
                                           international organisations not only to
political considerations,                  recommit to defending democracy but        need to defend
the pandemic also poses a                  also to adjust their strategies. The       democracy,
serious challenge to                       pandemic experience reinforces the         yet also presents
democracy.                                 generic requirements for more effective    some promising
                                           democracy support; but it also presents
                                           new and very specific policy challenges
                                                                                      new access
In an effort to contain the virus
                                           that will require deeper change on the     points for
governments across the world have
                                           part of those concerned with               domestic and
enacted diverse emergency powers to
enforce lockdowns and other measures.
                                           upholding democratic norms.                international
While in many cases these restrictive                                                 actors
                                           A recent ‘Call to Defend Democracy’
measures were proportionate and
                                           was signed by almost 100
                                                                                      committed to
justified for the imperative of
                                           organizations from all over the            doing so.’
protecting lives, some governments
                                           world, as well as nearly 500
have used them disingenuously to
                                           prominent individuals from 119
restrict democratic activities and
                                           countries, including 13 Nobel
silence critical voices. Emergency
                                           Laureates and 62 former Heads of
measures are not inherently
                                           State or Government.2 Adding
undemocratic, but in many places have
                                           operational ideas to this, the
undercut civil liberties. Some weak
                                           report offers five core policy
democracies and autocracies have
                                           recommendations that reflect the
suffered a particularly serious lurch
                                           altered context for democracy support.
towards more centralised power and
                                           It calls for a comprehensive monitoring
repression with probable long-term
                                           mechanism to help guide international
ramifications. Even if new risks to
                                           responses to Covid-19 democratic
democracy are not present in all
                                           infringements; commitments to
countries, they are pervasive enough to
                                           incorporate democracy efforts into
be of serious concern.
                                           Covid-19 emergency and recovery aid;
                                           a programme to support the new
If Covid-19 has in some places
                                           democratic civic activism that the
triggered anti-democratic restrictions
                                           pandemic has prompted; more
and repression, it has also incentivised
                                           action-oriented and genuinely
innovative pro-democratic efforts and
                                           multilateral cooperation for
initiatives. The stirrings of a greater
                                           safeguarding democratic practices; and
concern for democratic protection can
                                           an effort to harness emergent
be witnessed in some countries. The
                                           innovations in democratic
pandemic sharpens the need to defend
                                           participation, electoral practices,
democracy, yet also presents some
                                           political-party organisation and
promising new access points for
                                           institutional oversight.
domestic and international actors

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DEMOCRACY IN
THE PANDEMIC

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DEMOCRACY IN THE
PANDEMIC
There has been much                          been a primary determinant of           ‘Previous
                                             governments’ effectiveness. Rather
debate about which                                                                    pandemics
                                             than only focusing on a ‘democracy
type of political system                     versus authoritarian’ discussion, the    suggest that
has dealt best with the                      practical approach in the immediate      citizens are
Covid-19 health                              future will be to ensure democratic      more likely to
emergency.                                   politics function more effectively to    comply with
                                             assist Covid-19’s long-term
                                             containment and that emergency
                                                                                      health
Several democracies and
                                             responses do not generate further        measures over
authoritarian regimes have suffered
especially deadly outbreaks;
                                             democratic regression.                   the longer-term
conversely, a number of both                                                          where they feel
                                             Some of democracy’s advantages may
democratic countries and autocracies                                                  they have a
                                             come to the fore as countries move
have kept death rates low. So many
                                             into the latter phases of Covid-19.      voice over
different variables are at play that it is
                                             Previous pandemics suggest that          government
extremely difficult to isolate the
impact of political regime-type.
                                             citizens are more likely to comply       decisions.’
                                             with health measures over the
Countries are at different stages of
                                             longer-term where they feel they have
the pandemic and there is no
                                             a voice over government decisions.5
common method in the reporting of
                                             Trust within communities and
official figures. At this point, it is
                                             towards governments6 is a key feature
difficult to proffer definitive
                                             that underpins effective public
judgements over the impact of
                                             policies; while not unique to
different types of politics on Covid-19
                                             democracies, such trust can be more
responses. However, it is useful to
                                             easily thickened through bottom-up
look at more specific aspects of
                                             inclusion and pluralism.
different governance and political
                                             Unhindered access to information is
systems that support or harm
effective crisis management.

Some correlations reveal relatively
low levels of fatalities in countries
with stronger civic capacities and low
levels of corruption.3 And it is widely
agreed that the relatively imprecise
measure of governance capacity has
been a factor in effective crisis
management.4 Still, political regime
type alone does not appear to have

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more likely to ensure government          different options. Democracies can       ‘Over time,
cover-ups do not cost lives.              show a more inclusive, fairer and
                                                                                    democracies
Legislative oversight and open debate     open way of dealing with the
are more likely to keep effective         challenges that the pandemic’s            tend to score
pressure on governments in the long       long-tail will present. They are also     lower on
post-pandemic recovery phase.7 In         more inclined to show more                epidemic
democracies, citizens will be able to     international solidarity and              deaths and
vote against governments that have        cooperation in times of crisis.
performed badly in the crisis;
                                                                                    better on
electoral accountability should give      Over time, democracies tend to suffer     health and
leaders more incentive to enact good      fewer deaths from epidemics8 and          human
policies. It has been widely noted that   score better on health and human          development
women leaders in democratic               development indicators.9 Perhaps the      indicators.’
countries have performed well during      crucial policy-relevant point in
the crisis. To the extent that            autocracy-democracy comparisons is
democracies provide stronger              this: while these kinds of democratic
gender-rights protection, this is also    advantages are often asserted, they
likely to be advantageous to health       cannot be taken for granted. It is
indicators over the longer term.          unlikely that they will manifest
                                          themselves automatically; rather the
The economic and social impact of         benefits of open politics and societal
Covid-19 will place a strain on all       trust need to be carefully curated
types of political systems; yet           through tailored and purposive
democracies can gain a wider buy-in       policies, marked by a strong social
to difficult economic and fiscal          contract between public and state.
measures to the extent that policies
result from open debate over

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UNPACKING THE THREATS
TO DEMOCRACY

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UNPACKING THE THREATS
TO DEMOCRACY
Many emergency                              A key dividing line is where           ‘There are in
                                            regimes have used emergency
restrictions have been                                                              many cases
                                            provisions in ways unrelated to the
necessary, and                              health emergency – and that             dangers in
governments may still                       undercut constitutional principles      leaders putting
remove them if and when                     on freedom of expression, good          off elections for
the immediate crisis                        electoral practice, formal              too long in
                                            institutional checks-and-balances,
abates.                                     non-discrimination and media
                                                                                    order to prevent
                                            independence. The following areas       challenges to
Most democracies have kept                  are of particular worry:                their own
emergency measures largely within
                                                                                    incumbency.’
constitutional limits and have kept         Excessive violence by
parliaments open. Data suggest that         security forces
those countries already suffering
democratic repression have been at          Security forces have in many
higher risk of further repression due       countries seized an outsized role in
to Covid-19.10 Yet, some more general       the pandemic, clearly beyond what is
trends clearly do not auger well.           needed to enforce emergency
While many emergency measures are           measures. The Philippine
fully justified, several aspects are not.   government’s pandemic response has

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been highly militarised, with security   Interrupted elections and                ‘Many leaders
forces detaining thousands of people     electoral integrity challenges            have used
for violating curfew and killing many
citizens.11 As one activist in Tunisia   To date, 106 elections have been
                                                                                   Covid-19 as a
reports, the government there has        postponed in 61 countries.15 In many      pretext for
approached the crisis through a          cases the adjustments to election         curtailing
‘security lens’. In Africa, excessive    timing and voting arrangements have       parliamentary
police brutality has been reported in    been a necessary and justifiable part
South Africa, Uganda and Kenya,
                                                                                   oversight and
                                         of the Covid-19 responses and have
where more people have died at the       respected constitutional provisions       tightening the
hands of security forces in 2020 than    and legality. However, decisions          pressure on
from Covid-19.12 Militaries have         about holding elections often become      political
gained a prominent role in               deeply politicised and polarising.        opposition.’
Covid-management across Latin            Some elections held after the virus’
America. Deadly interventions from       outbreak suffered from extremely low
security forces to revolts in prisons    turnout and many primaries have
have been witnessed in Iran and          also been significantly affected.16
Nigeria.13 These trends have wide and    There are in many cases dangers in
disturbing political implications. 14    leaders putting off elections for too
                                         long in order to prevent challenges to
                                         their own incumbency. Ethiopia is an
                                         example of where postponement may

Map generated using International IDEA’s Electoral Risk Management Tool,
24 June 2020

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have been justified but uncertainty        the only acutely worrying instance.                ‘The broader
has been created because no date has       Many governments have detained not
                                                                                               pandemic
been given for when the rearranged         only opposition activists and
election will be held.                     journalists but healthcare workers                  context has
                                           who dared to criticise official                     posed wider &
In other cases, the concern is more        responses to the coronavirus. In                    unprecedented
about regimes trying to force through      Russia several frontline doctors                    challenges to
votes or plebiscites in lockdown           strangely fell from hospital windows
conditions that make it easier for         after making critical statements about
                                                                                               the functioning
them to manipulate voting processes        the country’s crisis response.21 In                 of independent
- Russia is an example of such an          Thailand, Cambodia, Venezuela and                   media across
attempt.17 In Niger, faked                 Bangladesh extreme pressure and                     the world.’
announcements have been used to            detentions have been meted out
disrupt electoral processes.18 Even        against political opponents.22 In                DISINFO              DISINFO
                                                                                                                                   DISINFO
where governments are genuinely            Bolivia, authorities used the pandemic
trying to find ways to keep to
electoral timetables, special voting
                                           as a justification to threaten political
                                           opponents with up to ten years in
                                                                                                                  DISINFO INFO
arrangements and election related          prison.23 Throughout the Balkans
                                                                     DISINFO
disinformation are in places               governments have launched             DISINFO   DISINFO     DISINFO

introducing problems and                   crackdowns on political opponents
vulnerabilities for some groups.           and media outlets.24 Regimes in Iraq,
Other concerns have arisen such as         Algeria and Lebanon have detainedDISINFO            DISINFO                           DISINFO

Covid-19’s distorted impact on             democracy activists with little
political campaigning, doubts over         health-related justification. Turkish
the capacity and preparedness of           authorities have extended repressive
electoral bodies, and the new              measures on political and civic
difficulties of ensuring international     opposition in parallel to managing the
observation.19 Across the world            health crisis.25 Kazakhstan’s measures
governments will be taking decisions       against peaceful assembly represent a
over holding or postponing elections       serious breach of international human
that need to be based on stronger          rights standards. 26
political consensus and trust in
decision-making process.                   Censorship and threats to
                                           independent media
Opportunistic clampdowns
on political opponents                     Many governments have passed
                                           decrees that allow governments to
Many leaders have used Covid-19 as a       fine or imprison those deemed to be
pretext for curtailing parliamentary       spreading ‘fake news’ critical of
oversight and tightening the pressure      official management of the pandemic.
on political opposition. While public      This has happened in Bolivia,
attention is drawn to the health crisis,   Bangladesh, Russia and Vietnam, for
authoritarian leaders have launched        example. Press freedom has been
new assaults against opposition            more widely curtailed in Ghana,
groups.20 The Chinese assault on Hong      Nigeria, Senegal, Montenegro, Serbia
Kong democracy activists is the most       and Sierra Leone, amongst many
serious case of this but far from being    other states. One of the last countries

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in the world to acknowledge an             between ethnic36 and religious groups      ‘Minority rights
outbreak of the virus, Tajikistan          by accusing some sections of the
                                                                                       are suffering all
blocked a website reporting fatality       population of being responsible for
figures different to government            the virus.37 Some disinformation            over the world.
official figures.27 In the Philippines     stories about health measures have          Discrimination
the operations of the country’s largest    directly put lives in danger.               has increasingly
broadcasting network have been                                                         undermined the
halted.28 In Cambodia,                     Misuse of digital surveillance
China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Turkey,
                                                                                       core democratic
and Venezuela, journalists and others      The global health crisis has                principle of
have been arrested and detained            demonstrated the positive role of           rights equality.’
simply for reporting the virus.29          technology in terms of spreading
Egypt and China have expelled              preventive messages and increasing
foreign journalists.30 The broader         public access to health care; in many
pandemic context has posed wider           democracies, governments have built
and unprecedented challenges to the        in concerns over privacy rights to
functioning of independent media           their tracking apps. However,
across the world. A number of media        various governments across the
outlets have suffered significant          world have misused technology for
revenue falls.31 In the Western            unlawful surveillance.38 China, Iran
Balkans, even successful media             and Russia’s digital surveillance
operators are experiencing serious         measures have been especially
financial challenges.32 The altered        intrusive of individuals’ right to
pandemic context has posed an              privacy, freedom of expression and
existential threat to media.               association. 39 Many countries have
                                           used tracing apps without
Increased disinformation                   anonymisation. Ecuador
                                           implemented GPS tracking to enforce
There are many examples of                 quarantine measures and the Israeli
state-backed influence operations          government authorised security
linked to the pandemic. Malign             services to use a system initially
disinformation campaigns have come         designed for counterterrorism
particularly from Russia, Iran and         operations. In South Korea,
China. The disinformation stories          authorities spread advisory messages
have attempted to blame the West for       which contained personal details of
the coronavirus outbreak and               infected patients. These measures
emphasised its inability to tackle the     have raised concerns not solely over
crisis.33 These three countries’ digital   breaches of medical privacy but of
narratives look increasingly similar       broader human rights violations.40
to one another.34 Disinformation
stories have expressly attempted to        Minority rights and
instrumentalise the health crisis and      vulnerable groups
serve a general goal of undermining
public trust in democratic                 Minority rights are suffering all over
countries.35 More broadly,                 the world. Discrimination has
governments’ disinformation has            increasingly undermined the core
deliberately fostered rivalries            democratic principle of rights equality.

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The Indian government has targeted       Technocratic governance                 ‘The enactment
Muslim communities. In some
countries, sexual minorities have been
                                                                                  of emergency
                                         A more second-order issue is that
subject to further abuses. Pandemic      scientific committees are wielding
                                                                                  powers that
responses have made refugees and         significant influence and                bypass
asylum seekers even more vulnerable.     generating a more technocratic           accountability
In addition to the suspension of         style of governance. Ironically, this    and oversight
asylum applications, those living in     science-based approach may be
refugee camps have been the target of
                                                                                  procedures
                                         undermining illiberal-populists, but
discriminatory policies.41 Several EU    it brings its own problems for           dramatically
and Arab governments have                democratic accountability and            increase the
introduced restrictions that             transparency.45 Experts in the Lancet    risks of
discriminately target Syrian refugees.   observe that at present, governments     corruption.’
Governments are largely disingenuous     are not learning the lessons of
in justifying all these various          previous pandemics to the extent
measures on health grounds.              that they are taking a top-down,
Lockdowns have resulted in a             paternalistic approach that actually
dramatic increase in cases of            undercuts the kind of local
gender-based violence depriving          participation that has helped provide
women the basic human right to live      more robust strategies in previous
free from violence.42 In France,         medical crises.46
Cyprus, Singapore, Argentina,
Canada, Germany, Spain, the UK and       Public sector corruption
the US the number of registered
cases, emergency calls and demand        The enactment of emergency powers
for emergency shelter have increased     that bypass accountability and
by varying but significant degrees.43    oversight procedures dramatically
Confinement further limits access to     increase the risks of corruption.47
education for children and students      Health sectors have become
across the world. Digital learning has   especially vulnerable to corruption
particularly challenged the most         due to simplified procurement rules.
vulnerable and disadvantaged             In countries like Russia, Colombia,
communities, which due to the lack       Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
of necessary facilities and              and Bangladesh major corruption
infrastructure have not benefitted       cases have been reported related to
from national or global efforts aimed    medical supplies.48 Bolivia’s health
at sustaining education during the       minister and Sicily’s coronavirus
crisis. The pandemic further             emergency coordinator were arrested
worsened conditions of migrant           on pandemic related corruption
workers across the world. 44 It has      cases. Israel’s prime minister,
likewise affected people with            Benjamin Netanyahu was able to
disabilities, narrowing their options    push back his planned hearing for
for access to healthcare, education,     corruption charges, clearly unrelated
political participation, the digital     to the health emergency.49 Access
environment and work force.              Now has charted a significant
                                         increase in problems over corruption

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under emergency procurement              politics.53 In those countries that
procedures.50 This corruption has        enjoy reasonably high-quality
increasingly extended beyond the         democracy, restrictive measures are
health sector to other spheres of        of real concern, yet they are mostly
public procurement due to a lack of      respectful of constitutional limits,
oversight on economic policies and       have parliamentary backing and do
financial bailouts. The regulation of    not override most core freedoms. In
political party campaign finances has    more hybrid systems or fragile
suffered, adding further doubts to the   democracies, the concerns are
fairness of electoral processes.51 In    greater; even where emergency
the longer-term this rise in             restrictions are not overly draconian
corruption is likely to eat away at      the virus is straining institutions and
public trust in democratic processes     pluralism. In restrictive regimes,
and institutional legitimacy.            governments are using the pandemic
                                         further to limit political space and
Overall, it can be concluded that        deepen already existing trends.
Covid-19’s political impacts differ      Illiberal-populist politicians in both
across regime types.52 While             autocracies and democracies have
democracies and autocracies have         performed badly, not only refusing to
mostly imposed similar kinds of          take factual evidence seriously but
emergency measures, countries’           also using the emergency to nourish
respective emergency measures have       nationalist narratives.
very different implications for

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DEMOCRATIC
PUSHBACK

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DEMOCRATIC
PUSHBACK
While the pandemic has                    Through new civic practices, in many      ‘...many long-
                                          countries civil society actors have
unleashed this panoply of                                                             existing and
                                          provided support to the most
concerns, not all trends                  vulnerable parts of society. Mutual         more
are negative.                             aid initiatives have multiplied aimed       traditional
                                          at complementing state capacity by          NGOs have
Alongside the range of anti-              helping provide medical supplies or         redirected their
democratic steps, there are signs of      food, assisting vulnerable members
                                          of local communities and running
                                                                                      activities
stronger democratic resolve across
the world. This can be seen at several    social support schemes. Volunteerism        towards the
different levels and in varied ways:      has expanded in relatively open             emergency and
                                          contexts like Ukraine, Armenia,             gained a new
Civil society efforts                     Georgia, Tunisia and South Africa           lease of life by
for democracy                             but also in more restrictive
                                          environments like Iran. Especially
                                                                                      doing this.’
The pandemic has had both positive        influential local neighbourhood
and negative effects on global civic      committees have formed in Sudan. In
activism. Although civil society          addition to these new initiatives,
across the world has faced rigid          many long-existing and more
restrictions, the adaptive experience     traditional NGOs have redirected
of finding new ways to mobilise is        their activities towards the
helping them circumvent some of           emergency and gained a new lease of
these new obstacles. Finding new          life by doing this.56 This has been the
ways to undertake both online and         case, again, in relatively open cases
offline campaigns, civil society in       like Brazil, India and Kenya as well as
Russia, Chile, Poland and Israel has      the most difficult contexts like Syria.
managed to voice concerns either          In countries like Portugal and
regarding pandemic responses or           Malaysia civic groups have got
over political restrictions.54 The very   governments to offer stronger
real threat of Covid-19 emergency         protection for migrants’ rights.
measures has spurred civil society
organisations into launching              Pushback against
campaigns monitoring governments’         disinformation
rights abuses during the health
emergency – good examples of this         As the very real damage done by
can be found in Argentina, Nigeria        disinformation has become all the
and Zimbabwe as well as across the        more tragically apparent, so civic
Western Balkans.55                        initiatives and CSOs have expanded
                                          and multiplied against it and are
                                          playing an important role on the

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ground in providing credible and          democratic rights, calling witnesses     ‘Political
trustworthy information. The rising       and questioning ministers even as
                                                                                    opposition
wave of disinformation about the          full legislative sessions are in
pandemic has induced diverse              abeyance. In some countries, citizens     parties in many
national and global efforts to fight      and civic groups have found ways to       parliaments
misinformation. Reflecting demand         mobilise against governments’ overly      have stepped up
for trustworthy information about         lax response to Covid-19; this            to provide
the virus, the World Health               pressure has often widened to focus
Organisation launched the                 on more general political grievances
                                                                                    detailed and
Information Network for Epidemics         – in Egypt, Thailand and some             forensic
(EPI-WIN) through which technical         European countries, for example. If       scrutiny of
and social media specialists swiftly      governments have sought to                government
respond to misleading narratives and      instrumentalise the crisis for their      measures,
rumours and offer citizens                own ends so have political opposition
evidence-based information. Around        forces. Many of them are using
                                                                                    showing the
60 locally based UN information           government Covid-19                       importance of
centres play a crucial role in            mismanagement as a wedge to               parliamentary
spreading the information in local        develop renewed engagement on             oversight for
languages.57 The EU has notably           democracy.
                                                                                    good quality
stepped up its multiple
misinformation initiatives. It has        New types of                              democratic
launched a new strategy to reinforce      democratic process                        accountability.’
resilience for countering
disinformation including through          A large number of online
deeper international cooperation.58       democratic forums have sprung up.
UNESCO is monitoring the                  These include initiatives linking
pandemic’s impact on media                citizens into online parliamentary
freedom, access to information and        debates. Legislative bodies in
the safety of journalists; has            Albania, Colombia, Brazil, and the
established a ‘resource centre’ on        Maldives changed parliamentary
these challenges; and has an initiative   rules to allow remote digital working.
on debunking misinformation.59            Chile and Singapore passed
                                          constitutional amendments
Political opposition                      specifically to allow for virtual
gathers steam                             parliamentary debates. 60 Some
                                          countries like Armenia, Guatemala,
Opposition to many governments has        Indonesia and Kosovo have brought
sharpened. Political opposition           in social media tools better to
parties in many parliaments have          connect with citizens. 61 In Mexico, a
stepped up to provide detailed and        women’s caucus has engaged in
forensic scrutiny of government           virtual meetings to protect women’s
measures, showing the importance of       rights. 62 Many countries have been
parliamentary oversight for good          looking at how to extend online
quality democratic accountability.        voting for public and parliamentary
Parliamentary committees have in          votes, while addressing digital
some instances set up enquiries into      vulnerabilities to make these
the impact of the crisis on               practices more fully secure.63

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With the pandemic’s impact set to        police for warning about the               ‘The pandemic
endure considerable time, more           coronavirus.64 In Russia civic activists
countries have begun to introduce        used the digital space to tag
                                                                                     does not push
formal legal changes to allow for        themselves in front of government           global politics
digital debates and votes. Most          buildings. In many European                 in any clear or
climate citizen assemblies have          countries, climate change protests          pre-determined
moved online. All this has added         have held digital protests calling on       direction; it
some dynamism to institutional           world leaders not to neglect action
oversight and civic participation as     against global warming. In Lebanon,
                                                                                     does intensify
cornerstones of good governance.         hundreds of demonstrators protested         the struggles
                                         in their cars in an ongoing series of       that already
New protest activity                     grievances against the government.          exist between
                                         While online protests cannot be a
Online ‘protests’ have spread. The
                                                                                     democratic and
                                         substitute for traditional street
new reality has forced civic activists   rallies, in the pandemic this               anti-democratic
and political opposition to look for     innovative approach to freedom of           forces.’
innovative ways to raise concerns.       expression has proven a viable option
Online revolts went viral in China       for articulating citizen discontent.
following the death of doctor Li
Wenliang, punished by the Chinese        A different type of opposition protest

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is more complex and challenging for        tightening repression or to more
democracy. In a growing number of          democratic momentum. In hybrid
countries more or less organised           regimes, democratic decay could
groups have mobilised against              easily set in or Covid-19 problems
lockdowns. Many of these use a             could spark popular pressure for
democracy narrative yet have been          more consolidated transitions. In
pushed by rightist groups whose            states that were already classified as
commitment to democracy is not             weak democracies, democratic
especially strong; the fierce              erosion and mobilisation against this
libertarianism at the heart of these       are likely to co-exist. Data suggest
sporadic protests is arguably a threat     that those democracies that have
to public health and not necessarily       performed well are those that have
conducive to stable democracy.             high levels of social trust and civic
Rather, it risks generating deeper         empowerment relative to those
polarisation that could be damaging        democracies that have performed
to democracy in many places.               badly.65 The pandemic does not push
                                           global politics in any clear or
In general, autocracies are likely to be   pre-determined direction; it does
subject to popular pressure just as        intensify the struggles that already
much as democracies, as citizens feel      exist between democratic and
anger at deaths, Covid-19                  anti-democratic forces.
mismanagement and economic
hardship; this could lead to

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DEMOCRACY
SUPPORT IN THE
PANDEMIC &
BEYOND

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DEMOCRACY SUPPORT IN
THE PANDEMIC & BEYOND
The global political context is           has given more than 1 billion dollars    ‘Donors have in
changing in important and complex         for the fight against Covid-19 and
                                                                                    particular
ways as a result of Covid-19. These       relief, 66 while the European
changes bring acute and long-term         Commission has released 20 billion        begun to see
dangers for democracy; in some ways       euros to deliver support to countries     information
they also open up new avenues of          in Africa, Eastern Partnership and        transparency,
democratic action. International          Western Balkans countries, the            e-governance,
democracy support will be more            Middle East and North Africa, parts
important; in the changed context, it     of Asia and the Pacific, Latin
                                                                                    parliamentary
will also need to adjust. Yet, at         America and the Caribbean.67 The          and judicial
present democracy support risks           World Bank Group has launched its         oversight,
losing priority amid the pandemic.        largest and fastest crisis response       constitutional
                                          ever, reaching over a hundred             constraints, the
A thorough understanding of the           developing countries.68 Through
impacts of the pandemic is necessary      emergency financing, the
                                                                                    fight against
for democracy support organisations       International Monetary Fund has           disinformation,
to adjust their strategies and areas of   also provided support to around a         resilient
interventions. To ensure democratic       hundred countries.69                      communities
governance in the pandemic and
                                                                                    and citizen-
post-pandemic circumstances,              The health emergency and
countries will need to develop            socio-economic ramifications of the       oriented
innovative approaches for holding         pandemic have naturally become a          governance as
elections, ensure the effective           priority for donors. Democracy            issues that
functioning of democratic                 support has not yet attracted such        Covid-19 has
institutions, improve parliamentary       priority attention. Formally, however,
oversight of executives and increase      the need for revised approaches aimed
                                                                                    made more
citizens’ participation in political      at ensuring democratic governance         vital.’
processes.                                and human rights protection also
                                          appears in governmental and
International emergency                   international organisations’ agendas.
responses                                 Donors have in particular begun to
                                          see information transparency,
Covid-19 has altered the                  e-governance, parliamentary and
governments’ external priorities          judicial oversight, constitutional
across the world and resulted in          constraints, the fight against
re-orientation of the existing            disinformation, electoral integrity,
resources. Donors have prioritised        resilient communities and citizen-
health challenges more clearly: the       oriented governance as issues that
United States Agency for                  Covid-19 has made more vital.70
International Development (USAID)

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The Swedish International                 Covid-19 management focusing in
Development Cooperation Agency            particular on elections,
(Sida) is supporting various              parliamentary oversight,
multi-sector Covid-19 programmes          constitutional provisions, the
that include civil society and            importance of political-party roles
governance elements.71 United             and new voting arrangements for
Nations agencies have increased their     elections. The National Endowment
efforts to protect children, women,       for Democracy has provided flexible
refugees, prisoners and other             emergency funds and increased rapid
vulnerable parts of global                response funding.79
community. 72 Under the rubric of the
Council of Europe, the European           The European Endowment for
Committee on Democracy and                Democracy (EED) has provided core
Governance has been sharing               grant support to civil activists and
best-practice guidelines on elections,    independent media to address new
rights, civil participation and           needs and challenges that arose
e-democracy in the management of          following the crisis. Additionally,
Covid-19. 73 The OSCE’s Office for        EED launched a specific Covid-19
Democratic Institutions and Human         response scheme to facilitate
Rights has closely monitored the          immediate actions among media and
implications of emergency measures        civil activists.80 The International
for democracy and compliance with         Foundation for Electoral Systems
human rights and fundamental              (IFES) continues to track global
freedoms.74 The European Bank for         election postponements and provide
Reconstruction and Development has        a range of resources, including the
also reinforced the good governance       IFES Covid-19 Briefing Series which
elements of its programmes.75             offers guidance to democracy and
                                          governance practitioners on seven
Many democracy organisations have         fundamental challenges they face in
also responded. The National              the wake of the pandemic.81 Human
Democratic Institute and the              rights organisations like Amnesty
International Republican Institute        International82 and Human Rights
are providing support to legislatures76   Watch have strengthened monitoring
and local governments across the          of human rights components of the
world in managing crisis                  policies adopted by governments
communications and helping citizens       amid the Covid-19 outbreak. 83 The
understand government responses to        Board of the EU-Russia Civil Society
the pandemic.77 The Open                  Forum has pushed for stronger
Government Partnership launched a         procedures to safeguard the rule of
platform called Open Response +           law, democracy and human rights.84
Open Recovery that serves as an
information sharing space for open        Civil society challenges in
government approaches to Covid-19.        times of Covid-19
78
   International IDEA has stepped up
its work to produce comparative           Despite these responses, democracy
knowledge and provide technical           support risks losing momentum since
assistance and advisory services on       the international community has

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understandably channelled more its        CSOs fear that economic recession          ‘Nearly all CSOs
available resources into emergency        will squeeze and deplete their
                                                                                      fear that
pandemic responses. In preparing          resource base dramatically to the
this report we heard from many            point that the survival of many             economic
democracy CSOs that have had              activist organisations will be in           recession will
funding rather abruptly cut as donors     doubt.                                      squeeze and
shift resources to Covid-19 priorities.                                               deplete their
This has forced them to cut staff and     Civil society representatives also fear
stop operations that will be difficult    that in the post-Covid environment
                                                                                      resource base
to recover later on. One Armenian         donors will divert political funding to     dramatically to
civic leader laments that ‘we have        programmes related to economic              the point that
been left more vulnerable just when       recovery. In this context, CSOs are         the survival of
the community needed us most’.            calling for greater accountability          many activist
                                          over economic recovery
CSO representatives note that while       programmes, amid the increased
                                                                                      organisations
some donor organisations were             need for oversight of donor funded          will be in
relatively flexible and adapted           economic aid. Similarly, we heard a         doubt.’
support for operational sustainability    common story from Western Balkan
at the start of the pandemic, most        CSOs of international funding being
have not allowed project activities to    re-oriented towards state capacity
be adjusted. We heard from nearly all     building and away from those areas
our CSO interlocutors that most           where governments are closing off
donors have imposed heavily               access, like media freedom, judicial
bureaucratic conditions that militate     independence and the protection of
against social organisations adapting.    human rights. As another Middle
One Middle East activist told us that     Eastern activist warned: ‘economic
funding cuts and donor inflexibility      recovery will not succeed if there is
have together led to ‘a massive           no good governance and oversight of
shrinking of implemented activities       these programmes.’ CSOs themselves
on the ground’ related to human           have begun to create innovative
rights and democracy in this region.      accountability and scrutiny initiatives
                                          but feel they are getting little support
Many activists told us they are           from the international community
having to lie low for the moment but      for these.
need help to plan for ways in which
they can rebuild democratic activities    CSOs also express concerns about
beyond the emergency period. In this      being left more vulnerable by the
they fear many donors and funding         shift to online activities. One activist
organisations are now diluting            in a particularly sensitive
pressure on non-democratic regimes        environment fears that the
in order to work with them on             international community is
Covid-19 issues and that this leaves      supporting much online civic activity
CSOs’ basic security compromised in       that is not secure: ‘we do not trust
the face of increased state repression    the devices [being supported]’. Our
– we heard this message from              interlocutors placed great stress on
Balkan, Eastern European and Arab         the fact that donors are not doing
states, and from Turkey. Nearly all       nearly enough to help CSOs’ digital

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empowerment in this new context.           things. These features are also       ‘Democracy
And CSOs from countries in conflict        relevant to other challenges on the
                                                                                  assistance helps
are worried that the international         agenda, like climate change, social
community is withdrawing just when         justice and the struggle for           build strong
they are seeking to restore local          rights-equality driving the current    civil-society
community bridge-building efforts          sweep of protests in the US and        organisations
around the crisis. In the Western          beyond. Democracy assistance helps     that can help
Balkans and Eastern Europe, CSOs           build strong civil-society
are worried that the EU is retreating      organisations that can help wider
                                                                                  wider society
further from accession perspectives        society meet a range of complex        meet a range of
– which many democracy activists           challenges, especially in a public     complex
still see as the most important            health crisis context. These           challenges,
guarantor of democratic norms.             organisations can help generate        especially in a
                                           on-the-ground information about
Support for democracy will gain            where needs are most pressing, and
                                                                                  public health
importance and be especially vital for     also keep corruption and misuse of     crisis context.’
the long-term recuperation from the        aid in check. Such support can help
pandemic. Recovery can’t effectively       countries be more adaptable to the
happen without enhanced state              challenges ahead. And it will be of
capacity and good governance,              vital importance in pushing back
including the safeguarding of              against the possibility of Covid-19
oversight, scrutiny, civic participation   empowering autocratic politics.
and responsive politics, among other

Anti-corruption effect on fatality rates from Covid-19

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RECOMMENDATIONS

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RECOMMENDATIONS
Well before the Covid-19                 processes. Covid-19 also invites those   ‘A Covid
                                         concerned with international
pandemic struck there                                                              Democracy
                                         democracy to consider a number of
was a need for                           more specific modifications that have     Monitor should
international democracy                  become more pressing due to the           track whether
support to adjust to a                   Covid-19 crisis. They would benefit       governments
global trend of                          from considering five very concrete       are removing
                                         policy initiatives:
democratic backsliding                                                             crisis measures
and declines in civic                    Covid Democracy Tracking                  as and when
freedoms.85                                                                        the health
                                         A fully coordinated effort is required    situation
                                         from international organisations
Many of the improvements required                                                  allows.’
remain urgent as Covid-19 responses      methodically to track the evolution of
have revealed systemic governance        restrictive emergency measures. A
and democracy challenges and a need      Covid Democracy Monitor should
to prepare for a next crisis requiring   track whether governments are
responsive and inclusive political       removing crisis measures as and

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when the health situation allows.         equally of international responses to        ‘The
This could be structured around           these. Democracy organisations
                                                                                        international
major threats to democracy posed by       should not overplay their hand: many
the pandemic as outlined above.           restrictions have been necessary and          community
Various international efforts have        may still have some relevance to              should commit
been undertaken in this regard. The       immediate public health priorities.           to including
Westminster Foundation for                Not every measure merits criticism;           civil society
Democracy has started a Covid-19          polls suggest many of them still enjoy
Tracker and a Global Monitor on           public backing. Rather, monitoring
                                                                                        and rights-
Covid-19’s Impact on Democracy and        must home in tightly on those                 oriented
Human Rights is being launched by         measures that governments are using           funding within
the European Commission and               disingenuously to further their own           post-Covid
International IDEA.86 However, more       political aims and hold on power. As          recovery
global effort is necessary in this        there is uncertainty over emergency
regard. International organisations       measures’ impact on democracy, a
                                                                                        packages.’
need to scale up such monitoring          Covid Democracy Monitor would
efforts and give them far more            make a huge contribution if it could
high-level political backing. They        disentangle medically justified from
should support similar cross-regional     politically nefarious emergency
and international initiatives             measures. Crucially, governments
especially for those countries with       and international organisations
weak checks-and-balances.                 should ensure tangible action is taken
Specialised tracking and analysis         on the basis of such detailed and
could offer guidance to local actors to   systematic Covid-19 monitoring.
better engage in democratic
oversight. Monitoring is required not     Democracy-sensitive
just of in-country measures but           Covid aid

                                          Donors, multilateral organisations
                                          and philanthropists will begin to
                                          channel significant shares of their
                                          development aid towards
                                          humanitarian emergency relief
                                          associated with the pandemic. It is
                                          right that vulnerable people across
                                          the world receive this help and that
                                          such emergency relief is not
                                          politicised to the point that
                                          individuals’ lives are put at risk. Yet it
                                          would also be important to ensure
                                          that the forthcoming wave of medical
                                          aid and funds aimed at helping
                                          economic recovery also foster
                                          democratic delivery and do not
                                          unduly empower authoritarian
                                          leaders. Institutions and political
                                          processes marked by inclusion,

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representation, transparency and          onto power. But in the Covid-19 era        ‘A truly
responsiveness provide the best           state capacity will be important to
guarantees to this end.                   manage health priorities and the
                                                                                      multilateral
                                          socio-economic imbalances that the          response is
The international community should        crisis accentuates. The donor               required to
commit to including civil society and     community should also invest more           democracy and
rights-oriented funding within            in tying together civic and state           Covid-19 that
post-Covid recovery packages.             capacity-building in a mutually
Democracy support needs to be made        reinforcing way. CSOs themselves
                                                                                      includes all
a more integral part of getting closed    told us they want more of this              regions of the
regimes to be more honest and             ‘cross-sector’ support to engage with       world.’
transparent about Covid trends and        state bodies and that they feel
share scientific work.87 Some modest      democracy organisations still
parts of macro-economic aid might         under-provide this kind of help. The
come with democracy-related               future agenda is likely to require civic
conditionality; this should not be        and well-functioning state capacities
applied too heavy-handedly but used       to be enhanced in tandem with each
sparingly to help prompt                  other. Both civil society and
governments to restore rights             institutional perspectives will need to
curtailed during the emergency. The       be taken on board to fine-tune this
Covid monitoring would identify           kind of joined-up support.
loopholes in democratic practices
and help tailor reform-based aid          Covid Global Civics
decisions. Governments and
international organisations should        International democracy support
commit to ring-fencing a higher           needs a concerted effort to target
proportion of their total aid for         new civic initiatives that are
efforts related to civil society, human   emerging as a result of the
rights, good governance and               pandemic – as donors are likely to
democracy.                                focus more on government
                                          capacity-building and post-Covid
Crucially, democracy-sensitive            economic recovery there is a risk
Covid-19 aid should work more             that these promising initiatives will
effectively to strengthen state           get overlooked. Amidst all the
capacities and the role of formal         gloomy political developments the
institutions in democratic processes.     formation of such groups represents
This will be integral to a long-term      the most positive change to come out
perspective that helps prepare the        of the crisis. These initiatives give
next health crisis. Supporting            CSOs and donors a chance to
democratic oversight by parliaments,      reconnect with local communities,
political parties, electoral              regain legitimacy and show that
commissions and civil society will        democracy support is not neglectful
help to achieve these objectives,         of people’s day-to-day concerns.
democracy aid has often provided          Higher levels of support and
vitally important support to civil        coordination will be needed to
society and opposition forces against     sustain and link together all the new
governments inclined to grip strongly     Covid, health related civil society

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activity with human rights and            need more multiannual core support       ‘The post-
democracy questions. International        as their resources may dwindle.
                                                                                    pandemic
networks can help move the new
local civic dynamism to a more            International coordination on             development
national and political level – as and     Democracy                                 agenda shall
where local citizens desire this.                                                   put a special
                                          The international democracy
                                                                                    emphasis on
There are also possible concerns to       community needs to step up its
head-off. Efforts will be needed to       coordination in the wake of the           strategic
ensure that over the medium-term          pandemic. A truly multilateral            planning and
civil society does not get dragged        response is required to democracy         inclusive
away too much from its more               and Covid-19 that includes all regions    analysis of
                                          of the world. In particular, such
political concerns. Civil society needs
                                          coordination should involve
                                                                                    experiences
to be helped contain the rights
abuses, gender violence and               countries that have engineered            stemming from
educational imbalances that the           successful responses to crisis            the current
pandemic is exacerbating. Support         including through maintaining             crisis.’
for independent media should be           functioning democratic institutions
given top priority as many outlets        throughout the crisis – like Canada,
face an existential struggle for          Korea, New Zealand and Taiwan.
survival. International efforts are       These countries – perhaps joined by
needed to support the financial           one or two of the best performing
sustainability of media in times of       European and other democracies
pandemic and in the post-pandemic         - could form the core of a group of
environment. These efforts could be       front-runner states that begin to
built around efforts to establish an      convene international democracy
International Fund for Public Interest    efforts in the months ahead.
Media (IFPIM).88
                                          An international initiative could be
Perhaps most pressingly, despite the      advanced to foreground how Asian,
new civic vibrancy the economic           African and some Latin American
squeeze that lies ahead could put civil   democracies have performed well and
society funding in acute danger.          to highlight the governance lessons
Governments and international             that emerge from their experiences. It
organisations could launch dedicated      could be kicked-off with a high-
funding schemes specifically to help      profile (virtual) event to generate
the new civic initiatives that have       political momentum. This
emerged due to Covid-19 and use this      multilateral coordination should
to inject democracy support with          focus on sharing lessons between
greater legitimacy and relevance. The     democracies; more effectively
international community already has       showing democracy’s advantages in
an agreed commitment to support           crises; common positions where
civil society within the Nairobi          democratic rights are threatened; and
Outcome Document; this could be           perhaps even coordinated
used more systematically to buttress      programming activities on the
these aims.89 In the Covid-19 context,    ground in some places. It should also
CSOs and independent media will           pursue long-term planning:

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