Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2022
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Source Publication
Global Studies Quarterly
Source ISSN
2634-3797
Original Item ID
DOI: 10.1093/isagsq/ksac017
Abstract
As governments sought to manage the coronavirus pandemic, many pursed temporary increases in centralized authority, a general tactic of crisis management. However, in some countries, public health was not the only motive for centralization. The COVID-19 response coincided with broader worldwide trends toward autocratization. Some of these efforts happened while the world was preoccupied with responding to the pandemic without concretely referencing coronavirus; however, in other cases, public-health rationales are clearly and explicitly invoked as a pretext for actions that instead aid the consolidation of regime authority. This has been especially pernicious in subnational politics, where efforts have been made to undermine the ability of opposition parties to fairly contest local and regional politics. This article examines four cases in which political actors either opportunistically used distraction from the COVID-19 pandemic or explicitly invoked public health while seeking to undermine long-term political contestation in their jurisdictions: Hong Kong, Hungary, Uganda, and the United States. We characterize the use of pandemic response as pretext or opportunity for undermining opposition parties, recentralizing political authority in dominant actors, and inhibiting the fair contestation of elections.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Rocco, Philip B.; Stenberg, Matthew; and Farole, Safia Abukar, "Calling in “Sick”: COVID-19, Opportunism, Pretext, and Subnational Autocratization" (2022). Political Science Faculty Research and Publications. 136.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/polisci_fac/136
Comments
Published version. Global Studies Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 3 (July 2022). DOI. © Oxford University Press. Used with permission.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited.