Wolfgang Merkel: Covid-19 and the Challenge to Democracy
Monday, May 18, 202012-1:30 pm Eastern Time (US)
Zoom Webinar
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About the Event
Around the world, drastic emergency measures are in place to control and limit the spread of Covid-19. Democratic societies have accepted the new ’normal’ of restricted freedom and mutilated human rights. Our freedom of assembly and the freedom of movement are severely limited, we are getting used to an unknown degree of surveillance, elections are impacted and postponed. Hiding behind emergency measures, ambitious politicians implement controversial new policies without democratic consent, and authoritarian regimes are snuffing out any hope for democracy altogether.
How does Covid-19 challenge democracy? Why is there so little resistance? When does the end justify the means? And does political opposition still have a role to play during a global health crisis?
About the Speaker
Wolfgang Merkel, Director em. of the Department “Democracy & Democratization” at the Berlin Center of Social Science, and Prof. em. of Political Science at the Humboldt University of Berlin, has been a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science since 2007. Prof. Dr. Merkel has written and edited dozens of books which have been published in many of languages. He is also the author of more than 200 articles and book chapters. His main fields of research are democracy, democratization, transformation of political systems, autocratic regimes, political parties, social democracy and social justice.
More at: http://democracy.blog.wzb.eu/