Authoritarianism Goes Pandemic? Symptoms from the Arab Region in the COVID-19 Era

Has the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a pre-existing global drive toward expanding, consolidating, and renewing authoritarian regimes worldwide? The study analyses evidence coming from the 20 countries of the Arab region in the 2020-2022 period and interprets this evidence in the framework of the region’s political and socio-economic contemporary history. Regional aggregated data and country-by-country analysis show that the political effects of the COVID-19 crisis have overall enabled incumbent authoritarian Arab regimes to reinforce their grip on weakened but untamed societies. Thus the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced authoritarian practices in Arab MENA countries and contributed to global authoritarianism