Democracy, State Capacity and the Governance of COVID-19 in Asia-Oceania

Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Figures
Tables
Contributors
1 Introduction: Democracy and State Capacity During Times of Crisis
	Introduction
	The Focus On Asia-Oceania
	Democracy, State Capacity and COVID Responses
		Institutional Incentives and Government Responses
			Accountability
			Inclusion
		State Capacities and Pandemic Responses
	Government Responses and Autocratization
		Pandemic-Catalyzed Autocratization Risk
		Pathways of COVID-19-Catalyzed Autocratization
	Overview of the Volume
	References
2 Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Aggregate-Level Comparative Analysis
	Introduction
	Governance Capacity and Policy Responses of Crises
	Clarifications On Data and Methodology
	Presentation and Discussion of the Empirical Findings
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
3 COVID-19 and Democracy: Creeping Autocratization?
	Introduction
	Pandemic-Catalyzed Autocratization Worldwide
		Dependent Variables
		Explanatory Variables
		Control Variables
		Model Specification
		Regressions for Pandemic Violations of Democratic Standard Index
		Decline in Electoral and Liberal Democracy Between 2019 and 2021
	Pandemic-Catalyzed Autocratization in Asia-Oceania
		Emergency Powers and Executive Aggrandizement
		Civil Liberties and Democratic Spaces
		Militarization of COVID-19-Curbing Policies
		Electoral Disruptions
	Summary and Outlook
	Notes
	References
4 Closing the Borders to COVID-19: Democracy, Politics and Resilience in Australia and New Zealand
	Introduction
	Contextualizing a Comparison of Australia and New Zealand
	Policy Incentives: Politics, Science and Prioritizing Public Health
	Accounting for Policy Choices: Media Scrutiny and Economic Impacts
	Democratic Resilience During COVID-19
	Conclusion
	References
5 Containing COVID-19 in South Korea and Taiwan: State Capacity and Geopolitics
	Introduction
	State Capacity and Policy Choices: Adapting the Developmental Institutions
	Fighting the Pandemic: The Cases of Korea and Taiwan
		State Capacity: Administrative and Infrastructural
		Policy Options: State Capacity, Techno-Productive Strength and Geopolitics
		Acquiescence: Performance Or Democracy?
	Democracy, State Capacity and Public Health in the Long Term
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
6 Navigating the Early Impacts of COVID-19: South Pacific Viewpoints From Fiji and Samoa
	Introduction
	Fiji
		Political Background
		Public Health, Social Welfare and the Economy During the Pandemic
	Samoa
		Political Background
		Public Health, Social Welfare and the Economy During the Pandemic
	Fiji and Samoa During the Pre-Omicron COVID-19 Pandemic
	Conclusion
		Ia O Gatasi Le Futia Ma Le Umele
	Notes
	References
7 The Pandemic and Competitive Authoritarianism in India
	Introduction
	Path-Dependent and Pandemic-Influenced Autocratization in India
	The Pandemic and Democratic Backsliding
		The Drift Toward Limiting Civil Society
		Layered Attacks On Civil Society
		Drifting Away From a Pluralist State
		Institutional Displacement: Abrogation of Article 370
	State Capacity and Pandemic Response
		The Troubled Lockdown
		Ignoring Technical Knowledge
		Failed Vaccination Strategy
		Democratic Resilience
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
8 Economy First: Indonesia’s Calculated Underutilization of State Capacities and Democratic Resources in the Early Phase of COVID-19
	Introduction
	Indonesia’s State Capacity
	Democratic Resources
	COVID-19’s Impact On Democracy
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
9 COVID-19 in the Philippines and Cambodia: Rising Autocracy and Weak State Capacity
	Introduction
	The Philippines
		Punishment as Duterte’s Solution to the COVID-19 Pandemic
		The Plight of Migrant Workers and Central-Local Tensions
		The Absence of Science and of Systematic Procedures
		The Vaccine Rollout
	Cambodia
		Rising Authoritarianism During the Pandemic
		Cambodia’s Public Health Response
		The Cambodian Government’s Financial Response: Cash Transfer for the Poor and Industrial Workers
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
10 Singapore and Hong Kong: The Effect of Trust in High-Capacity Hybrid Regimes
	Introduction
	Literature Review
		Political Regimes and Pandemic
		State Capacity, Trust and Pandemic
	Singapore: A Resilient Competitive Authoritarian Regime
	Hong Kong: An Autocratizing Hybrid Regime
	Social Trust and COVID-19 Response in Hong Kong and Singapore
		Early Response Toward the Outbreak in Hong Kong
		Provision of Economic Stimulation Packages
		Situation of Migrant Workers’ Clusters
		Imposition of Travel Restrictions and Border Closures
		The Politics of Pandemic Control
		Introduction of Vaccination Campaigns
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
11 Proactive Responsiveness and Institutionalization in Vietnam’s Offensive Against COVID-19
	Introduction
	Responsiveness and State Capacity
		Proactive Responses and Prevention Against “Co Vy”
		Testing, Contact Tracing and Containment Strategies
	Institutional Dynamics and Societal Rootedness
	Institutionalization and Public Health Interests
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
12 China’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Navigating Internal and External Challenges
	Introduction
	Political Institutions and Incentives for Effective Response Mechanisms
		Responsiveness of the Chinese Party-State
		Initial Inertia and the Tale of “Fragmented Authoritarianism”
		The Creation of Disincentives for Local Initiative
		Information Control and Censorship
		Growing Domestic and Foreign Criticism
		Switching to National Crisis Mode
	State Capacities and the Party-State’s Ability to Implement Public Health Responses
		The Conundrum of Measuring China’s State Capacity
		Activation of Latent Coercive and Administrative Capacities in National Crisis Mode
		Social Embeddedness
	The Impact of Party-State Responses On the Quality of Political Institutions and Processes
		An Upward Spiral of Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy
		The Legitimating Effect of Perceived Failures of Pandemic Responses in Western Democracies
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
13 Conclusion
	Introduction
	State Capacities in the Fight Against COVID
	Institutional Incentives to Fight COVID
	COVID and the Democratic Quality of Political Institutions
	Summary and Outlook
	Note
	References
Index