How democracy and inequality shaped the initial COVID-19 pandemic

This article utilizes cross-national datasets to build and test a theoretical framework that emphasizes the interactive relationship between political freedom and inequality regimes in explaining the spread and control of COVID-19. First, we construct a theoretical framework to analyze the dilemmas faced by liberal democratic regimes in managing both the economy and virus control. Next, we incorporate another framework to conceptualize the capacity of welfare states to support economically vulnerable populations and pandemic victims. To test our hypotheses, we employ multivariate OLS regression analyses on confirmed case rates, focusing on 4-month intervals during the first year of the COVID-19 crisis. The findings provide sufficient support for our claim that, at higher levels of inequality, political freedom is positively associated with the spread of COVID-19. Conversely, at lower levels of inequality, political freedom is negatively associated with the spread. This study underscores the inherent vulnerability of democratic freedom to infectious diseases and highlights the importance of social welfare provisions and healthcare systems in responding to large-scale disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic