Repression and resilience: Diagnosing closing space mid-pandemic
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REPRESSION AND RESILIENCE: DIAGNOSING CLOSING SPACE MID-PANDEMIC<br />
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state of emergency <strong>and</strong> lockdown measures. In other<br />
countries such as Nepal, governments invoked outdated<br />
legislation to address COVID-19, which allowed them to<br />
evade effective scrutiny by opposition forces. 110<br />
The limitations of political parties to hold the executive<br />
to account <strong>and</strong> defend democratic <strong>space</strong> stem in part<br />
from the way the p<strong>and</strong>emic boosted the role of the<br />
executive. The p<strong>and</strong>emic provided many unpopular<br />
regimes with the daily media coverage <strong>and</strong> legitimacy<br />
that was needed to temporarily boost their popularity<br />
while at the same time tightening their grip on power<br />
with restrictive measures <strong>and</strong> p<strong>and</strong>emic funding for<br />
co-opting competing elites. The p<strong>and</strong>emic was the<br />
perfect excuse for centralised, executive leadership <strong>and</strong><br />
legitimised measures like excessive police brutality <strong>and</strong><br />
restrictions of citizens’ rights in a way that would have<br />
otherwise not been acceptable. While all the attention of<br />
the international community <strong>and</strong> the public was focused<br />
on socio-economic <strong>and</strong> health concerns, autocratising<br />
regimes enjoyed an unprecedented lack of oversight<br />
that allowed them to advance their political agendas.<br />
This made it all the more challenging for political parties<br />
to scrutinise <strong>and</strong> counterbalance the executive with<br />
alternative ideas.<br />
110 Westminster Foundation for Democracy (2021): Legislative leadership in the time of COVID-19. Available here.