Does the pandemic cause a significant change in public authority?

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ercan Gündoğan, faculty member from the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Cyprus International University mentioned that they have expectations from the public authority in the solution of the problems of the citizens due to the coronavirus outbreak and said, “The public authority should help their citizens. The most moderate demands are financial support for those who are in a difficult situation due to practices such as quarantine and curfew. Relatively radical demands include returning to social democratic welfare state programs and reorganizing the distribution relations for the benefit of the poor”.

Gündoğan pointed out that there is an expectation of reform after each crisis: "If there is a crisis due to a major disaster, a destructive economic multiplier, or war, then, at least a serious wave of reform is expected".

It was stated that many countries established new institutions and developed new policies after such crises, and even changed their regime in cases where they could not maintain their former system.

Gündoğan expressed that some countries expect it to pass, no matter how big the crisis is and added: "The country returns to its normal state afterward. The crisis does not cause a significant change, because there is no strong public pressure to change public authority or public authority is closed or insensitive to control".

It was reminded that the current epidemic affects the whole world, the public authority will be held less responsible, and therefore, the pressure of change on the public authority will be less.

Drawing attention to the importance of the societies that renew themselves in the face of the crisis and characteristics of such societies Gündoğan said, “Democracy is strong in these societies, the ratio of public ownership carries an important weight and the quality of the public bureaucracy is high”.

It was mentioned that in the absence of these features, it is mostly satisfied with the displacement of political parties, politicians, high bureaucrats, and some superficial administrative reforms through new elections.