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The effects of COVID-19 on domestic and international security in democratic and authoritarian regimes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2023

Kristen Topping
Affiliation:
Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA
Yousef Hosny
Affiliation:
Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA
Lance Y. Hunter*
Affiliation:
Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA
Yufan Yang
Affiliation:
Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA
*
Corresponding author: Lance Y. Hunter; Email: lahunter@augusta.edu
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Abstract

While numerous studies have examined how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected health care systems, supply chains, and economies, we do not understand how the pandemic has impacted the security of democratic and authoritarian states from a global standpoint. Thus, this study examines how COVID-19 has affected the security of democratic and authoritarian regimes. In conducting a historical, qualitative review of the security effects of the pandemic, we find that COVID-19 significantly affected domestic and international security for democratic and authoritarian states in both similar and varied ways. Additionally, the manner in which states responded to the pandemic was often conditioned by their regime type and by the nature of the governing leadership during the pandemic. These findings have important implications in considering how COVID-19 affected the security of democratic and authoritarian states, how regime type shapes government responses to infectious disease outbreaks, and how democratic and authoritarian states may respond to future pandemics.

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Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences

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