Opinion polls usually show high support for democracy – but does that hold true in times of crisis? Opinion poll experiments conducted in six countries by Christian Rauh, Heiko Giebler, Jan Paul Heisig, Johannes Gerschewski, and Jianghong Li show that priorities shift in exceptional situations, such as a pandemic. Personal freedoms and alternative decision-making processes, such as those involving expert panels, often take precedence over democratic principles. The researchers are concerned about this development because it could lead to the erosion of democratic accountability and allow non-democratically legitimate actors to gain influence. |
