A válságok hatása a politikai rendszerekre
Authors: Stumpf István 
Published: December 2021

Összefoglaló. A második világháborút követően talán nem volt
egyetlen esemény sem, amely olyan hatást gyakorolt a világ országaira, mint a
koronavírus-járvány kirobbanása. A vírus-válság felgyorsította a liberális
világrend erózióját, kiélezte a nagyhatalmak közötti ellentéteket,
válságforgatókönyvek és prognózisok készültek. A válság rávilágított arra is,
hogy kudarcra vannak ítélve azok a kormányzatok, amelyek nem ruháztak be a
közösségi infrastruktúrába, és elhanyagolták a közszolgálati tudást. Az is
kiderült, hogy a kormányzati intézményeknek szakértőkre és nem lojális
mamelukokra van szüksége a válsághelyzetből fakadó közpolitikai gondok megoldása
során. Egy világméretű és példátlan sebességgel terjedő válság elleni eredményes
fellépés elsődleges frontvonala tehát a nemzetállam maradt.

Summary. In times of crisis, all political systems give the
executive exceptional powers, as it is not possible to face new and rapidly
changing challenges within the framework of existing laws. One of the American
founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, who feared the excessive power of central
government, believed that in times of emergency the system of checks and
balances should be suspended. Constitutional democracy will be threatened if the
rule of law is not restored after the emergency has passed.

Perhaps no event since the Second World War has had such an impact on the
countries of the world as the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic. The virus
crisis accelerated the erosion of the liberal world order, sharpened the
antagonism between the great powers, especially the US and China, and
highlighted the vulnerability of the production chains that had been outsourced
to the Far East in the hope of cheap labour. Crisis scenarios and forecasts were
drawn up, and prominent scientists and researchers expressed the view that there
would be no return to the world before the virus. The virus crisis has also
highlighted the failure of governments that have not invested in community
infrastructure and have neglected public knowledge. It has also shown that
government institutions need experts, not loyal mamelukes, to solve public
policy problems arising from the crisis.

The coronavirus is the most pressing challenge of this century so far, and in
responding to it, localism is being valorised as a crucial centre of solidarity
and problem-solving. Forecasters fear that rising inequalities and the erosion
of family savings could trigger a wave of political discontent that is more
angry and violent than ever before. The majority of people will not be able to
manage their children’s digital education and work from home without a separate
room and computing infrastructure, so governments will need to develop special
programmes to address this, and people’s health and the capacity of public
health to cope will come to the fore.

The pandemic crisis has provided a new argument for those who argued for the
reinvention of the state and the importance of governments’ ability to act
quickly to deal effectively with natural and economic crises. In recent decades,
many have buried the nation state, arguing that successful responses to global
problems in a globalised world cannot be found within the framework of a nation
state. The Covid-19 crisis has shown that the nation state remains the first
front line for effective action against a crisis that is spreading at an
unprecedented global scale and speed. Different countries have followed
different crisis management strategies and very significant differences in
contagion rates have emerged. The crisis has reassessed the role of nation
states and borders, which already played an important role in receiving
migration flows.