IN-DEPTH: Is Covid-19 killing democracy? W/ Tom Daly & Asanga Abeyagoonasekera

Global Questions

Tune in for the first episode in our In-Depth series on Democracy in Decline. This week, Rhiannon chats to Associate Professor Tom Daly and Asanga Abeyagoonesekera about how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting democracy around the globe. Tom is the Deputy Director of the University of Melbourne's School of Government. He's also the Director of the research platform Democratic Decay and Renewal. His research focuses on the future of liberal democracy and how it's been tested by the pandemic over the past 18 months.

Asanga is an international security and geopolitics analyst, as well as a strategic advisor from Sri Lanka. He has almost 2 decades of experience in the government sector, working in foreign policy and defence think tanks. Asanga is an expert in Sri Lankan geopolitical security.

We discuss how politicians have used Covid-19 as a distraction to consolidate power and the interplay between certain political systems and democracy in the Covid-19 era. We look at Sri Lanka as a case study, focusing on how the Rajapaksa dynasty has used the pandemic to concentrate power.

Get in touch with Tom Daly via his Twitter page or LinkedIn.

Check out Asanga’s work and get in touch with him on Twitter and read his article on the Rajapaksa regime here.

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CREDITS: This episode is produced by the Young Diplomats Society on the lands of the Wurundjeri/Gadigal people. We pay our respects to the traditional custodians of the lands upon which we operate and live.