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Chapter 3 - The Politics of Prevention

How State and Citizen Interacted, Battling the Virus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2021

Peter Baldwin
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Summary

Democracies and autocracies could be found pursuing many different strategies, and left and right did not line up consistently behind any particular approach. But that does not mean that politics were not important in deciding how to tackle the pandemic. Because the only available tactics interfered in people’s lives, prevention was inherently political. Some were inconvenienced by quarantines, isolation, and lockdowns so that others might be spared. How many and for how long depended on the nature of the precise strategies chosen. All nations had the legal powers to impose as strict measures as they wanted, but only some considered themselves able to make radical demands of their citizens. Most well-off nations of the West decided that they could afford the economic and social costs of shutdown. But some politicians feared that hardships imposed on the poorest would be less tolerable even than the ravages of a pandemic. Sweden was an outlier here. It took a very hands-off approach, making few demands of its citizens, whom it considered able to take the necessary precautions on their own, without being commanded or forced.

Type
Chapter
Information
Fighting the First Wave
Why the Coronavirus Was Tackled So Differently Across the Globe
, pp. 53 - 81
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • The Politics of Prevention
  • Peter Baldwin, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: Fighting the First Wave
  • Online publication: 12 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009000222.004
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  • The Politics of Prevention
  • Peter Baldwin, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: Fighting the First Wave
  • Online publication: 12 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009000222.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Politics of Prevention
  • Peter Baldwin, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: Fighting the First Wave
  • Online publication: 12 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009000222.004
Available formats
×