Authoritarian Liberal Surveillance and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Alexei Anisin

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9783111345932
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Democracy
• Index: Social Sciences

From QR codes to stay-at-home orders and mask mandates, the pandemic posed intriguing questions about the nature of political power in a time that is increasingly being classified as marked by democratic erosion, backsliding, or populism, Through a multi-methodological analysis of datasets covering different characteristics of pandemic responses in 54 liberal democratic states, Authoritarian Liberal Surveillance and the COVID-19 Pandemic draws attention to a different set of processes and dynamics. By adopting the theoretical frameworks of authoritarian liberalism and surveillance capitalism, a new explanation of political, economic, and social outcomes that arose over the course of the pandemic is provided in a critical cross-national inquiry. Findings turn attention to a previously neglected set of factors that were behind the emergence of widespread illiberal practices. Many liberal democracies experienced a metamorphosis that arose out of the unfettered implementation of authoritarian liberal economic policy making which merged with previously embedded structures of surveillance capitalism.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Is the World Becoming more Illiberal?
• Chapter 3: Theoretical Framework and Research Design
• Chapter 4: Waves of the Pandemic
• Chapter 5: The Impact of Pandemic Policies on Democracy Measures
• Chapter 6: Optimizing the Economy and Depoliticizing Publics
• Chapter 7: Conclusion
• Index