In Staaten, in denen die Medienfreiheit, Bürger und politische Rechte, die Unabhängigkeit der Justiz oder wichtige demokratische Werte schon vor der Krise ausgehöhlt worden waren, verfestigten sich unter dem Deckmantel der Coronakrise diese besorgniserregenden Entwicklungen...

The giant stress test produced by the pandemic has revealed the weaknesses and strengths of the Italian system. The health and economic impacts within the country was particularly severe due to the fact that Italy was the first European country to be hit by the contagion,...

In states where freedom of the press, civil and political rights, the independence of the judiciary and core democratic values were subject to erosion even before the crisis, these worrying develop ments became further entrenched as a result of actions taken in the name of...

Compared with other countries, and in particular other EU member states, Austria’s performance during the coronavirus crisis has not been unsuccessful. In terms of medical (e.g., infection and death rates) and economic indicators (e.g., unemployment), Austria’s performance...

The first major outbreak of coronavirus in Japan occurred following the arrival of the cruise ship “Diamond Princess” in Yokohama on 3 February 2020. A first wave of infections hit the country, stretching from about March to early May. A second wave followed in July to...

Belgium, even more than the rest of Europe, was hit very severely by the COVID-19 epidemic. The exact reasons for Europe’s poor performance will be debated for years to come, but available evidence already allows strong conjectures to be drawn. A first plausible factor is...

Mexico is one of the countries that has been hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis. According to Reuters, at least 1.7 million people in the country had already died from or with the virus by December 2020, and nearly 79 million had been infected. These figures differ...

There is little question that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in countries around the world, Canada included, operating in an environment of extreme uncertainty. In Canada, the pandemic not only unfolded heterogeneously across the country, which is vast geographically, but...

In spite of all the national, regional and local crisis management efforts, never since World War Two have so many Dutch citizens died in one year: 967 persons per 100,000 inhabitants. In 1993, a year with a vehement influenza-epidemic, 901 per 100,000 inhabitants died.

Chile was going through a political and social crisis when the coronavirus pandemic hit the country. Since October 2019, massive peaceful demonstrations as well as acts of destruction targeting infrastructure had dominated the public space. In January 2020, the government...