DEMOCRACY AND THE STATE OF EMERGENCY

We have asked experts, political scientists, sociologists and political analysts, to write reports on the response of the governments to the corona crisis and their effects on democratic institutions and public life. The reports cover the situation of “Democracy and the State of Emergency” in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia.

Leaders are invoking executive powers and are seizing a great deal of authority with scant resistance. We are witnessing a curtailing of civil and political rights on a massive scale, which is unprecedented in peacetime. While there was anger in the non EU-member states of the region about the EU’s restrictions on the export of medical equipment, China is using the pandemic to strengthen its ties by providing medical equipment and expertise. As the corona pandemic and responses to it in the region unfold, we will continue to monitor the development. This is the first in a series of reports which sets out to monitor effects of the corona crisis management on institutions, political and civil rights, parties, civil society, as well as external factors. More Analysis will follow on May 18.