Keywords
coronavirus
COVID-19
liberal democracy
illiberal democracy
globalization
Abstract
The aim of this article is to compare the effectiveness of two political systems: liberal democracy and illiberal democracy in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The analysis has been carried out on the basis of the theoretical assumptions and conceptualization of non-Marxian historical materialism. In the first part of my article, I present the concept of ‘regulative credit” which has been introduced in that theory. In standard socio-political conditions, the growth of power regulations is usually contested by citizens. However, in a situation of danger, when social order is undermined, citizens support the authorities’ extraordinary regulations. This social support, called regulative credit, lasts as long as the danger persists. In chapter two, I characterize shortly liberal and illiberal democracies. In liberal democracy, there is a balance between different branches of power, and citizens share a socio-political consciousness of the individualistic type. In illiberal democracy, the executive branch of power – although it has been democratically chosen – has an advantage over the two other kinds of power, and citizens share a socio-political consciousness of the collectivist type. Those differences result in diverse reactions of the authorities to a situation of threat. The political authorities of an illiberal democracy react faster in comparison with the political authorities in liberal democracies that react slower. Also, the attitude of citizens toward the introduced restrictions varied. Societies of illiberal democracies are more self-disciplined and more willing to accept restrictions from above. Whereas societies of liberal democracies are more individualistic and less willing to accept limitations. In the fourth part of my paper, I analyze briefly the influence of the pandemic on globalization processes and on the relations between the EU and the nation states in Europe. In the summary (chapter five), I predict that the mass use of modern technologies to control social life and strengthening of the sovereignty of nation states will be the two most important effects of the pandemic.
References
Antoszewski, Andrzej. 2018. „Demokracja nieliberalna jako projekt polityczny” [Non-liberal Democracy as a Political Project]. Pp. 51-68 in Zmierzch demokracji liberalnej?, edited by K. A. Wojtaszczyk, P. Stawarz and J. Wiśniewska-Grzelak. Warszawa: Aspra-JR.
Brzechczyn, Krzysztof. 1993. “Unsuccessful Conquest and Successful Subordination. A Contribution to the Theory of Intersocial Relations.” Pp. 445–456 in Social System, Rationality and Revolution. Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 33, edited by L. Nowak and M. Paprzycki. Amsterdam/Atlanta, GA: Rodopi.
Brzechczyn, Krzysztof. 2004. O wielości linii rozwojowych w procesie historycznym. Próba interpretacji ewolucji społeczeństwa meksykańskiego [On the Multitude of the Lines of Developments. An Attempt at Interpretation of Evolution of Mexican Society]. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.
Garewicz, Jan. 1983. „Pokolenie jako kategoria socjo-filozoficzna” [Generation as a Socio-Philosophical Category]. Studia Socjologiczne 1(88): 75-87.
Goodhart, David. 2020. “Farewell free trade, and good riddance.” UnHerd, 6 III. Retrieved March 16, 2020 (https://unherd.com/2020/03/its-time-liberals-embraced-economic-nationalism/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3).
Huntington, Samuel P. 1996. The Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of the New Order. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Lanier, Jaron, E. Glen Weyl. 2020. “How Civic Technology Can Help Stop a Pandemic.” Foreign Affairs, Retrieved March 26, 2020 (https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/2020-03-20/how-civic-technology-can-help-stop-pandemic).
Lilla, Mark. 2017. The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics. New York: Harper.
Łepkowski, Paweł 2020. “Brytyjski sposób na koronowirusa.” [The British approach to the coronavirus] Rzeczpospolita, March 14. Retrieved March 16, 2020 (https://www.rp.pl/Koronawirus-2019-nCoV/200319461-Brytyjski-sposob-na-koronawirusa.html).
Nowak Leszek. 1983. Property and Power. Towards a non-Marxian Historical Materialism. Dordrecht/Boston/Lancaster: Reidel
Nowak, Leszek. 1991. Power and Civil Society. Towards a Dynamic Theory of Real Socialism. London: Greenwood Press.
Ossowska, Maria. 1963. „O pojęciu pokolenia.” Studia Socjologiczne 2(9): 47-51.
Przybysz, Piotr. 1999. “O sposobach przechodzenia między ideałem i praktyką w liberalizmie.” [On the ways of transitioning between the ideal and practice in liberalism] Pp. 133–148 in Czym jest filozofia polityki?, edited by R. Piekarski. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.
Rogacz, Dawid. 2015. “Konfucjanizm Yong Huanga: na rozdrożu pomiędzy tradycją i współczesnością.” [Yong Huang’s Confucianism at a Crossroads between Tradition and Contemporariness] Prace Naukowe Akademii Jana Długosza w Częstochowie. Filozofia 12: 75-88. http://dx.doi.org/10.16926/fil.2015.12.04.
Rogacz, Dawid. 2016. „Dynamika władzy w powojennych Chinach. Próba analizy teoretycznej.” [Dynamics of Power in Post-war China. An Attempt of Theoretical Analysis] Człowiek i Społeczeństwo 42: 161-181.
Shen, Hanna. 2020. „Władze Chin kłamią o koronawirusie? Polska dziennikarka z Tajwanu obnaża prawdę.” Portal Do Rzeczy. Retrieved March 26, 2020 (https://www.dorzeczy.pl/kraj/133177/wladze-chin-klamia-o-koronawirusie-polska-dziennikarka-z-tajwanu-obnaza-prawde.html?fbclid=IwAR2Uf6C2BAhI1HAPzYL-4prIErWoZVoAQ3Z29GD48Myy9IhNK17ZWGl9SC8Aa).
Turecki, Kamil. 2020. “Koronawirus. Azjatycka lekcja dla całego świata.” [Coronavirus. A lesson from Asia for the whole world] The Onet portal. Retrieved March 20, 2020 (https://www.msn.com/pl-pl/wiadomosci/koronawirus/koronawirusazjatycka-lekcja-dla-całego-świata/ar-BB11tGxJ?li=BBr5KbO).
Vallance, Patrick. 2020. “News.” Evening Standard. Website of the Year. Retrieved March 26, 2020 (https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/coronavirus-latestcovid19-herd-immunity-patrick-vallance-a4386476.html).
License
Manuscript authors are responsible for obtaining copyright permissions for any copyrighted materials included within manuscripts. The authors must provide permission letters, when appropriate, to the Society Register Editors.
In addition, all published papers in Society Register are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported License.
1.1 The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person. The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
1.2. The Publisher warrants that is the owner of the PRESSto platform for open access journals, hereinafter referred to as the PRESSto Platform.
2. The Author grants the Publisher non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern CC BY-NC 4.0 as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons.
3. The Author grants the Publisher permission to reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
4. The Author grants the Publisher permission to send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases.
5. The Author represents that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Publisher is entitled and obliged to:
5.1. allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made, based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Creative Commons sub-license or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons;
5.2. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.3. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
6. Because of the royalty-free provision of services of the Author (resulting from the scope of obligations stipulated in the present Agreement), the Author shall not be entitled to any author’s fee due and payable on the part of the Publisher (no fee or royalty is payable by the Publisher to the Author).
7.1. In the case of third party claims or actions for indemnity against the Publisher owing to any infractions related to any form of infringement of intellectual property rights protection, including copyright infringements, the Author is obliged to take all possible measures necessary to protect against these claims and, when as a result of legal action, the Publisher, or any third party licensed by the Publisher to use the Work, will have to abandon using the Work in its entirety or in part or, following a court ruling in a legal challenge, to pay damages to a third party, whatever the legal basis
7.2. The Author will immediately inform the Publisher about any damage claims related to intellectual property infringements, including the author’s proprietary rights pertaining to a copyrighted work, filed against the Author. of liability, the Author is obliged to redress the damage resulting from claims made by third party, including costs and expenditures incurred in the process.
7.3. To all matters not settled herein provisions of the Polish Civil Code and the Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act shall apply.