Covid-19

12 articles tagged with covid-19 were found.

A twin city divided during Corona A story of unintended geopolitics

The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of state territorial regulations and restrictions against the spread of Covid-19 on the life of the population of the twin cities of Tornio and Haparanda, on the border between Finland and Sweden. To the inhabitants, the pandemic restrictions meant an oscillating “life world” of opportunities and containments, affecting them differently, often depending on decisions taken by distant authorities and for reasons irrelevant to the local borderland.

Essay by Thomas Lundén January 18, 2023

“There are more lights in the windows” Challenges and opportunities for island societies in Sweden during the Covid-19 pandemic

With more than 260 000 islands, Sweden is one of the countries with most islands in the world. Its islands are located along the coasts and in the larger lakes. For the municipalities and regions where they are located, the islands are places for recreation and symbols in tourism marketing. A rough overview over the impact of the pandemic on rural and remote areas indicates that Swedish tourism in 2020 and 2021 mainly consisted of “staycations” and that Swedish countryside attracted many people. However, our knowledge about the impact of Covid-19 on everyday life on islands, and on livelihoods and the tourism industry on islands, is still scarce. This article therefore answers the following questions: How has the pandemic influenced island communities, local livelihoods, and the tourism industry on islands?

Essay by Paulina Rytkönen, Marcus Box, Tommy Larsson Segerlind. Youssouf Merouani January 18, 2023

Political participation during and after the pandemic. A mixed picture

The two-day conference “Political Participation in Central and Eastern Europe during the Pandemic” discussed how the profile of participants and political participation did change compared to the pre-pandemic situation and highlighted the variation in the modes of political representation in Central and Eastern European countries.

By Olena Podolian and Sergiu Gherghina January 24, 2022

Baltic borders during Corona – a story of unintended geopolitics

The outbreak of the Corona virus pandemic has led to a number of legal measures, varying in time and space, over the Baltic Sea area and neighboring states. But the actual distribution of the pandemic does not necessarily follow the administrative territories that form the statistical basis for decisions. While usually defined for specific territories (whole states or administrative areas), the effects on peoples’ daily behavior have been particularly strong in the borderlands. In March 2020, suddenly a sharp line was created along the hitherto almost invisible border between Tornio-Haparanda, Finnish police and border guards checked the line, and only a few people were admitted to cross, based on strict definition of purpose. The reason for the closure was a high incidence of illness and deaths in Sweden.

By Thomas Lundén December 1, 2020

The Tsikhanauskaya Effect: How an Accidental Heroine Transformed the Belarusian 2020 Presidential Election.

While in the past there has generally been an atmosphere of resigned acceptance after the election, this time countless Belarusians went out on the streets to contest the results. The dynamics of the protest clearly illustrate its main goal is not to ensure Svitlana Tsikhanauskaya becomes the head of state, but rather to guarantee Lukashenka does not stay in this position. One factor that played a particularly important role was the way that President Lukashenka was handling the COVID-19 crisis. Nonetheless, it was Tsikhanauskaya’s campaign that made people actually vote – because it gave them hope they could influence political affairs.

By Sofie Bedford September 7, 2020

Covid-19 and the Politics of Authoritarianism in Central Asia

In this article, we compare the differing responses of the five Central Asian republics to Covid-19. We pay particular attention to how the virus presents opportunities to strengthen authoritarian rule within the region: for authoritarian regimes, the virus offers an opportunity to suppress dissent and strengthen authoritarian norms. While authoritarian states have recognised the spread of the virus in order to receive international humanitarian assistance, they have hidden the true number of infected and victims of the disease, as well as forbidding doctors to talk about the dangerous working conditions in hospitals, and imprisoning citizens for spreading false information.

By Edward Lemon and Oleg Antonov June 21, 2020

How the pandemic has helped officials to control, manipulate and enrich in Azerbaijan

The period of pandemic demonstrated the main problem which affected dynamic of statistics and overall situation in the country – a lack of trust of citizens in the state institutions, adding to their already undermined fabric by many years of exclusive policies of the self-interest driven elite. The pandemic situation could have served as an excuse for solidarity and mobilization of the society vis-a-vis common threat. Instead it was used by the government to strengthen its power.

By Leila Alieva June 17, 2020

The Covid-19 Pandemic in Belarus: Wither the Social Contract?

As the citizens in this time of crisis have found they have to take responsibility for their own and others wellbeing the social contract could potentially be considered broken, or at least breaking. Perhaps this in fact the reason the Belarusian authorities have found themselves faced with a unique volatile situation as the general frustration over how they handled the Covid-19 situation is spilling over to the ongoing presidential election campaign.

By Sofie Bedford June 16, 2020

In Poland, COVID-19 exposes progressing societal militarization

As Poland lifts restrictions and comes out of the lockdown ensued by COVID-19, much has been said on what the pandemic has revealed about our economy, public institutions, gender relations, and state of democratic checks and balances. What has been less discussed, yet not gone unnoticed, is the way this security crisis has revealed ongoing processes of societal militarization, and the shift of society-military relations towards closer ties and interactions. Just like the war in Ukraine and the Refugee Crisis, Covid-19 has further normalized bringing the Polish society into defense through militarized channels. However, a closer look reveals the potential for shifting this process into more civilian-based forms.

By Weronika Grzebalska May 31, 2020

Latvia’s e-parliament does it from a distance

The Covid-19 pandemic created the need to find a new way for 100 Latvian MP’s to debate and pass laws without sitting side-by-side in their historical parliamentary hall. A new e-system now enables Latvian MP’s to perform their legislative functions from anywhere they have an Internet connection.

By Ojars Eriks Kalnins May 28, 2020