A New Democratic Norm(al)? Political Legitimacy Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has granted national governments far-reaching political powers to implement drastic non-pharmaceutical interventions to curtail the spread of the virus. For these measures to be effective, governments should be granted widespread political legitimacy. This is established when populations’ expectations from governments are in line with public support for these governments. In this chapter, we investigate changes in political legitimacy during the coronavirus crisis in the Netherlands. Amidst of the pandemic, we collected unique, representative data among LISS-panel respondents that supplemented the European Values Study 2017. We demonstrate that the Dutch public (temporarily) lowered their democratic aspirations thereby longing for strong leadership while simultaneously increasing their trust in the incumbent Government, which, combined, resulted in more political legitimacy. Because of an outspoken period effect, expectations are, however, that this legitimacy will not be long-lived in the new common.

The Sciences During the New Common: A Missed Opportunity?

By Wednesday, July 22, 2020, the coronavirus had killed over 611,000 people and infected over fourteen million globally. It devastated lives and will continue to do so for a long time to come; the economic consequences of the pandemic are only just starting to materialize. This makes it a challenging time to write about the new common. However, we need to start somewhere. At some point, we need to reflect on our own roles, the roles of our institutions, the importance of our economy, and the future fabric of everyday life. In this chapter, I will discuss one minor—and compared to the current crisis seemingly inconsequential—aspect of the new common: I will discuss my worry that we are on the verge of missing the opportunity to properly (re-)define the role of the sciences as we move from our old to our new common.

There Is an App for That: Technological Solutionism as COVID-19 Policy in the Global North

The COVID-19 pandemic took high-income countries entirely by surprise. Despite funding pandemic preparedness programs in Asia for more than 20 years, donor countries had not experienced an uncontrolled pandemic since HIV in the 1980s. When Ebola, Zika, SARS, and MERS threatened, countries outside the immediate geographic neighborhood or income level of those diseases’ places of origin were left largely untouched. In contrast to the swift, comprehensive response of South-East Asian countries, authorities in Europe and the United States assumed this coronavirus would behave like its predecessors SARS and MERS.What happened next around the world was both harrowing and illuminating. Lacking protective material resources, the human capacity for contact tracing or understanding of the disease, policymakers in higher-income countries turned to technology for a miracle. The technology sector responded with history’s most extensive hackathon, illuminating the mutual shaping of technology and public health policy. The most striking feature of the technological response to the pandemic has been the degree of what Morozov has called solutionism driving it—the belief that complex problems can be solved by technological intervention alone.

Online Proctoring Put to the Test

Traditionally, universities are places where students and professors physically interact. Knowledge and skills of students are generally tested in oral and written forms, on campus. In times of COVID-19, however, a new common in education is called for as students are unable to be physically present on campus. Both education and assessments need to take place at a distance. This development creates opportunities. However, education at a distance also bears risks, such as the risk of fraud. Universities are responsible for safeguarding the quality of education, assessments, and diplomas. Only students who actually master the learning objectives should receive a diploma. Online proctoring systems can help to achieve this. A challenging issue is that some students oppose these systems from the perspective of privacy and data protection. In view of the key focus of this book, moving towards a new common while preserving the best of the old common, it is thus important to put online proctoring systems to the test and consider their impact on human rights.

Labor Supply and Well-Being During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Crisis in the Netherlands: Lessons from Microdata

Like many other countries, the Netherlands shut down large parts of economic and social life in the spring of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between late March and early May, schools and childcare facilities as well as restaurants, cafes, and bars were shut down; contact-related occupations were closed; gatherings were prohibited; and employees were advised to work from home as much as possible. While these regulations represented a sharp cut in individuals’ personal lives, they were more relaxed in the Netherlands than in many other European countries. At the same time, the Netherlands has enacted large-scale economic relief programs.This chapter gives an overview of how labor supply and well-being have changed in the Netherlands in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. We show that changes in the labor market have affected different groups of people differently and we discuss reasons for these differences. In addition, we illustrate how the consequences of the lockdown have altered the well-being of Dutch workers.

The Economy, Nature, and the Meaning of Life After the Coronavirus Crisis

Abstract“Christians still regularly tell you that nature is so beautiful and testifies of God’s greatness and goodness. Oh, dear people, nature is downright terrible, nature is one great suffering... What is ‘very good’ about a creation in which the most terrible parasites live in humans and animals...? What is ‘very good’ about a creation in which all organisms are terrorized by parasites, including parasites themselves?” (‘t Hart, Wie God verlaat heeft niets te vrezen. De Schrift betwist, pp. 7–8; 1997). The words by Maarten ‘t Hart seem irrefutable. Now that the coronavirus causes a disease that makes us realize that life is not as malleable in everything as we wish, they would have been almost prophetic if he had added the word “viruses” after “the most terrible parasites.”Long before Maarten ‘t Hart, ancient philosophers refused to accept the idea that creation is only cruel and chaotic.In this chapter, we will discuss how every crisis is an opportunity to continue to grow, either personally or collectively, or to come to a deeper understanding. Bearing this in mind, the question arises as to how we can learn from the present coronavirus crisis. How should society be rearranged? How should we deal with nature of which humankind is a part?

Fortified Nudges? Protecting the Vulnerable in a Post-COVID Society

The eagerly awaited transition back into a functioning and vibrant society presents numerous challenges, not the least of which is how to protect the vulnerable. As society emerges from the “crisis” phase and the lockdown is lifted, it remains unclear to what extent it should be left to the vulnerable to protect themselves.The elderly, the infirm, and those with existing health conditions are particularly susceptible to tragic outcomes from the coronavirus. To be vulnerable to a severe impact of COVID-19 turns the disease into a pervasively lurking death threat. Yet, to suggest that the vulnerable spend their lives in retreat in order to significantly minimize the risk is problematic in multiple ways. As policy-makers craft the way forward, the question must be asked whether an appeal to the goodwill and voluntary cooperation of people, along with the slow evolution of social norms, is an adequate approach to protecting the vulnerable.

Internet Access as an Essential Social Good

During the coronavirus crisis, educational activities and nearly all social contact with friends and family were conducted via online communication tools. Such tools can only be used effectively if an individual has suitable internet access. Thankfully, the Netherlands is one of the EU leaders when it comes to Next Generation Access (NGA) coverage, with 98% of Dutch households having access to these high-speed connections; this is well above the USA (94%) and EU (87%) averages. However, this still means that nearly 344,000 individuals living in the Netherlands lack a strong internet connection. Here, we contend that the coronavirus crisis, and especially the associated lockdown wherein individuals were strongly encouraged to not leave their homes, has made it clear that high-speed internet access is a necessary good for modern social living.

Plus Ça Change…? How the COVID-19 Crisis May Lead to a Revaluation of the Local

The spread of the coronavirus around the world once again confronts us with the vulnerability of a globalized economy and society. As with previous global crises, it is not obvious that the COVID-19 crisis is leading to a process of de-globalization. It is much more likely that the crisis will accelerate localization—a process that has been going on for much longer. In fact, localization occurs simultaneously with globalization, and is inextricably bound up with it—in both the “old” and the “new common.” In this sense, the struggle to grapple with the current situation shows us the continuing importance of the local in a global context.

Covid-Spiracy: Old Wine in New Barrels?

How to make sense of the current COVID-19 crisis? While many people rely on official statements made by governments, scientific institutions, and experts for answering this question, others do not. Recently, the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reported on people who adhere to the conspirational theory that the current COVID-19 crisis is linked to the introduction of 5G technology. These people point, for example, to so-called 5G experiments in the province of Wuhan, China, where the current COVID-19 crisis started in 2019. The “covid-spiracy” theory suggests that behind the societal curtains, elites are trying to deal with the problem of overpopulation by means of introducing 5G and blaming COVID-19 for the negative side effects. On Facebook and Twitter, people are actively discussing these theories with increasing momentum. And, inspired by theories on the adverse effects of 5G, people have tried to destroy 5G technology and hinder the spread of this technology in the Netherlands.