Democracy in Light of Corona Pandemic: Commitments and Challenges

Summary

The study seeks to explore the repercussions of the Covid-19 crisis on democratic practice, human rights, and freedoms in democratic and autocratic systems, to reach the extent of the legitimacy of the procedures and measures taken in light of the state of health emergency to limit the spread of the Covid-19 Pandemic, and the repercussions of these measures on issues of legitimacy, equality, transparency and civil-military relations. One of the study findings is that the procedures taken by some countries, whether democratic or autocratic, have led to undermining democracy and escalated violations of human rights, especially violation of privacy, violation of freedom of expression, discrimination against vulnerable groups, and violation of the right to political participation. Therefore, it is necessary to strike a balance between the protection of public health and the commitment to democracy, through the establishment of the procedures to contain the pandemic on the principles of proportionality, appropriateness, necessity, equality and circumstantiality.