Repression and resilience: Diagnosing closing space mid-pandemic
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12 REPRESSION AND RESILIENCE: DIAGNOSING CLOSING SPACE MID-PANDEMIC<br />
civic <strong>space</strong> <strong>and</strong> citizens’ trust in democratic institutions<br />
<strong>and</strong> political processes.<br />
In countries where impunity was already rife, the<br />
p<strong>and</strong>emic allowed impunity to spread even more a<strong>mid</strong><br />
the rise in violent attacks on human rights defenders <strong>and</strong><br />
media workers during the p<strong>and</strong>emic.<br />
Legislative oversight <strong>and</strong> transparency: The new case<br />
studies emphasised the importance of this newly added<br />
tactic against the rule of law <strong>and</strong> checks <strong>and</strong> balances.<br />
During the p<strong>and</strong>emic, legislative oversight was limited<br />
by using the digital meeting tools (such as disabling<br />
the chat <strong>and</strong> muting legislators), but also by using the<br />
state of emergency for limiting legislative oversight<br />
<strong>and</strong> transparency. These new tactics of the p<strong>and</strong>emic<br />
environment may well have repercussions on the postp<strong>and</strong>emic<br />
environment.<br />
Restricting civic <strong>space</strong>, <strong>closing</strong> the <strong>space</strong> for political<br />
contestation <strong>and</strong> stifling the rule of law are different<br />
‘tactics’ towards the same end: gradually silencing<br />
dissent <strong>and</strong> concentrating power in the h<strong>and</strong>s of the<br />
few. Both the case studies <strong>and</strong> a wider review of the<br />
civic <strong>space</strong> <strong>and</strong> democratic backsliding literature<br />
affirm that this phenomenon is deeply embedded in<br />
the wider trend of regressing democratic <strong>space</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
authoritarian resurgence. Various tactics may be used<br />
in combination <strong>and</strong> at different points in time by a wide<br />
range of autocratic state <strong>and</strong> non-state actors alike,<br />
exemplifying the multifaceted <strong>and</strong> non-linear nature of<br />
the phenomenon.