Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1244022
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 6 MAY 2020 NEWS ANALYSIS Politics after COVID-19: What THE emergence of COVID-19 has had a sobering effect, with politicians relying more on sci- entific evidence by experts. Evi- dence-based policy-making may well become the new buzzword in the next years as the planet faces more challenges and dis- asters. The pandemic has also offered a glimpse of how life will feel like with less traffic on the roads in more livable cities and remind- ed us on how crucial unskilled workers are for collective sur- vival. But increased insecurity has offered a fertile ground for the politics of fear, with people more likely to seek solace in national- ism, and politicians more likely to conjure migration fears. Science is back with a vengeance Luckily Malta has been spared from the toxicity of anti-vaxx- ers and climate change deniers. But politicians have never been as likely to ground policies on scientific evidence. This may herald a paradigm shift if the same approach is applied to oth- er environmental and social is- sues, including planning, energy, and climate change and water conservation. The emergence of Charmaine Gauci as a voice of reason in her daily bulletins has contributed to this change. It has also affirmed the role of non-partisan civil servants in the public sphere which is locally suffocated by partisan posturing. Even government minister Chris Fearne has presented a more sober style of leadership which often contrasted with Prime Minister Robert Abela's more lenient and populist tone, even if this may well have come across as a balancing act between cau- tion and optimism. The downside is that politi- cians may also hide behind the smokescreen of expert advice when taking politically strategic decisions. One example of this was the opening of the Spring hunting season, a decision which did not raise the health alarm as the hobby can be practiced in re- spect of social distancing rules, but which was questioned be- cause of the difficulty to enforce the law during a health emer- gency. The Opposition was also caught unprepared especially in the initial phase of the pandemic when its calls for an immediate lockdown were shot down by ex- perts. The state is once again interventionist Neoliberalism suffered a ma- jor set-back in pandemic times, with the State gaining new le- gitimacy to intervene to protect the collectivity, even through price controls as was the case with the government's decision to set a price for face-masks. The citizenry was also asked to dras- tically change its lifestyle and behaviour by accepting a partial lockdown, something which au- gurs well for other impending emergencies like climate change which also require a drastic change in behaviour. Phasing-out of plastics and the shift to electric cars should be easier to accomplish and per- haps in a shorter time-frame than previously envisaged. But one important factor is that in this case people were more like- ly to feel the immediate threat posed by a virus. They may be less willing to do so to safeguard future generations. Still, it will Car-free towns and Maltese f lags on balconies… COVID-19 could change Maltese politics. Has the pandemic tipped the balance away from market- driven policies to evidence-based ones that prioritize the common good. or will fear of the 'others' simply make xenophobes bolder? JAMES DEBONO asks Increased insecurity has offered a fertile ground for the politics of fear, with people more likely to seek solace in nationalism, and politicians more likely to conjure migration fears