Bowing to Authority: the COVID-19 Experience

• Autore: Pauline Westerman
• Carica: Professor in Legal Philosophy University of Groningen, The Netherlands
• Pagine: 234-239

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hps://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2531-6133/11543

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Bowing to Authority: the COVID-19 Experience

The Covid-19 crisis is not only a subject of sadness and increasing worries but also a source

of wonder and amazement. The incredible speed with which people adapted themselves

to the new circumstances is one of the most remarkable features of the last few months.

Much was made possible by technology (without the internet, a lockdown would not have

been an option at all), but also regulation was drafted so swiftly that it seemed to mock

the usual complaints about bureaucratic inertia.

Even more astonishing probably, especially for those whose job it is to reflect on

law,is the amazing initial preparedness and willingness of people to comply with the rules.

It is true that countries reacted differently, according to their tradition, political context,

and historical experience. Some countries reacted with a more Draconian measure than

others, and whereas in some countries people were literallybanned from the streets, other

countries boasted a more liberal attitude. But even in the latter, where there is a strong

tradition to ‘let people decide for themselves’ and where governments admonished their

citizens to make use of their common sense (as the Dutch Prime Minister never tired of

pointing out), the infringement of human rights was massive. Even there, police entered

private houses in order to impose fines on friends who had gathered there, as was the case

with students who, though sharing the same flat, nevertheless were considered to belong

to different households’ and were fined for sharing their meals together. Nevertheless, in

the first stages of the crisis, these measures met with very little resistance and it was only

after the worst was over and infection rates dropped that the people started to express

doubts and criticism. Then and only then, people started to organise protests against the

measures.

It would be too simple to say that in times of emergency people naturally flock

around their leaders and that as soon as the emergency is felt to be less threatening and

acute, people start to think for themselves.The question is rather: what kind of reasons

impel them to obey or violate the rules? Do they obey because their leaders are informed

by experts and because the official guidelines they issue are based on scientific evidence?

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