How the Coronavirus pandemic contributed to the rise of authoritarianism throughout the world

Abstract

The article explains how the Coronavirus pandemic contributed to the rise of authoritarianism throughout the world. Advocates of the small government fear that the Coronavirus pandemic may lead to the unprecedented rise of government power and the rise of authoritarianism in the universe. The government might take advantage of the crisis and impose a lot of restrictions on the people. Governments use pandemic as a pretext to limit human rights. On the pretext of controlling the pandemic such fundamental human rights as freedom of speech and expression, freedom of assembly and association, the right to privacy, etc. are massively restricted. Since the outbreak of the pandemic civil space has been severely restricted and press freedom is a thing of the past in many countries. The state of emergency in various countries creates favorable conditions for the government to restrict human rights and impose total control over the society in order to prevent the outbreak of pandemic.