The post-Coronavirus World. What’s next?

From the rise of under-the-skin surveillance to the collapse of liberal democracy

Humankind is unequivocally encountering perhaps the most significant global health crisis of our generation, the Corona-virus pandemic. Looking forward to the future, it is precisely the present decisions a lot of world leaders made that would probably determine the direction human beings are heading to in the next few decades. Eventually, the storm will pass, but we will undeniably live in a very different world.

This pivotal moment has raised one crucial question,

What will the world be like once the coronavirus pandemic is over?

To answer this question, we must clearly understand the characterization of our current political system, as well as the different kinds of governments that exist across the globe.

Firstly, the citizens will face a tough choice to choose from — between their privacy and security. What do I mean by this? Citizens need to abide by the specific guidelines that help cease the pandemic from developing further. The government can monitor individuals and punish those who break the rules by announcing a ‘temporary’ emergency decree or so-called lockdown. We can already see this happening across the globe, ranging from countries like the UK to Singapore and Thailand. However, what distinguishes this form of decrees from other kinds of emergencies is the capability of the governments to employ technology, which makes it possible to monitor everyone at all times. They can now deploy novel under-the-skin surveillance systems in the battle against the virus. The Chinese government exemplifies this well. By making use of thousands of millions of face-recognizing cameras and forcing people to check and report their body temperature and medical condition regularly, the Chinese government can quickly identify the suspected cases as well as those who have come into contact with the patients.

Many might argue that this type of surveillance — where the governments use various technologies to manipulate and monitor individuals — has already existed since decades ago. Nevertheless, it is crucial to understand that this current pandemic might universalize such usage, which can further cause…