The COVID-19 Crisis: An Accelerator of Digital Democracy?
Résumé
The Covid-19 pandemic has differentiated impacts, depending on the country and especially on the policies implemented, on the functioning of democracies throughout the world. In all countries, radical policies, unthinkable outside of a health crisis, have been implemented; strict confinement orders have been given, for varying periods of time; and curfews, mobility restrictions, travel bans have been applied. Pandemic spreads very rapidly and leaders had to act quickly in a situation of uncertain information, often mobilizing committees of experts who had to try to understand and explain and advise policy at the same time. This unprecedented situation makes the relevance of the policies adopted unquestionable, which have obviously disrupted social life as well as the functioning of democracies, at all levels. This chapter proposes a partial assessment of the impacts of the health crisis on democratic functioning and attempts to highlight the elements and conditions that can determine the development of a local democracy mobilizing digital tools.