COVID19:
State Power and Citizenship[1]
Introduction
COVID19 has led to
universal lockdown in various levels in over 185 countries. As of today over
2.6 million cases have been reported with over 50000 deaths in United States
alone. While responsible governments are battling the pandemic with every
possible means at their command, there are countries which are also being
accused of using the opportunity to impose restrictions that serve their
diabolical regimes.
We are witnessing
mobilization through social media in developing countries like Algeria to help
prevent aggravation of pandemic situation. We are also witnessing street level
agitations in developed nations like USA against the preventive restrictions. A
holistic view of both these phenomenon provide an interesting insight into
citizenship by posing certain questions. The primary question that arises
concerning citizenship is: Are governments within their right to restrain
personal liberties in the prevailing condition?
The
State and the Citizen
In the opinion of
Thomas Hobbes, the concept of
state power over citizens or “introduction of restraint upon themselves…is the
foresight of their own preservation, and of a more contented life thereby; that
is to say, of getting themselves out from that miserable condition of War,
which is necessarily consequent to the natural passions of men, when there is
no visible Power to keep them in awe, and tie them by fear of punishment to the
performance of their covenants, and observation of those Laws of Nature . . .”[i].
Arguing on the point of state control over citizen’s life, Rousseau said, “Each
of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction
of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as
an indivisible part of the whole.”[ii].
Perhaps TH Marshall’s
statement that citizenship is "a status bestowed on those who are
full members of a community. All who
possess the status are equal with respect to the rights and duties with which
the status is endowed"[iii],
should merit consideration at this juncture.
If citizenship bestows
equal status with respect to the rights and duties, then our next point of
consideration should be on “duties”. In Arizona, Colorado, Montana and
Washington State, people have taken to streets proclaiming that the lockdown
conditions are impinging on their individual rights and freedoms[iv].
What does the duty of a citizen entail then, in conditions of such pandemic?
The concept of
citizenship has undergone tremendous change from the time the industrial
revolution set in. Earlier, serfs had only subsistence rights at the pleasure
of their masters in the western hemisphere. In the East, though the concept of
slavery was not unknown, larger cultural precepts like compassion and charity
together with the duties of kings to provide for the desolate somewhat offset
the impact of slavery. However, decolonization (which by itself we must credit
as the biggest event in history towards empowerment and human rights) and the
shocks to human conscience by the events in Nazi concentration camps, brought
up the issue of human rights and freedoms to the fore front.
Commencing from UDHR to
the innumerable international instruments, rights and freedoms have been handed
down and even enforced through collective action (as in former Yugoslavia).
Human Rights and freedoms todays are the bedrock of all dialogues on democracy
everywhere. With the onset of human rights as a non-derogable condition, the
concept of citizenship has also undergone sea change. Individual citizens
everywhere are vested with political, civil and social rights that are
enforceable by law.
To presume therefore
that individual rights are inviolable would however be against the very concept
of human rights itself. The concept of human rights does not rest on one
individual by himself/herself. It rests on the principle of membership of a
community or society. Nor does it rest on the power of a sovereign to give it
to an individual, for, as the UDHR says in the opening stanza of its Pramble, “Whereas recognition of the inherent
dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”, human
rights are inherent to every human being.
An individual’s right
to freedom however, cannot be the basis for endangering another human being’s
right to good health. For, the whole argument in favor of human rights rest but
on a single pillar called equality. What every individual in the society cannot
be allowed to indulge, no single human can claim it as his freedom and right.
Looking
Beyond State Control
We are neither the
first to think so, nor will we ever be the last to state this as a wish.
Equality before law is a principle enshrined in every constitution of every
country and upheld by every court of law as sanctimonious. Be it the Supreme
Court of India (Indra Sawhney v Union of India[v] )
or the Supreme Court of USA (Brown v Board of Education), equality and equal
treatment are fundamental to democracy. However, the constitutions do not
merely envisage equality as a standalone principle. Right to equality is
contingent upon a more important right – the Right to Life. No individual
citizen by himself or in conjunction with one or more number of people can
indulge in any activity that will endanger the right to life of other citizens.
For without the Right to Life, there can never be any meaning in other rights
and freedoms. The Supreme Court of India in fact gave substantial meaning to
this statement in Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration, when it said, “the
“right to life” included the right to lead a healthy life so as to enjoy all
faculties of the human body in their prime conditions”[vi].
Conclusion
The discussion above highlights
dimensions in the concept of citizenship in a world that is fighting a pandemic
threatening to engulf humanity. Good citizenship, as the provisos of the
constitutions and contents of the case law show, incorporates the sense of
responsibility and duty towards fellow citizens, without which it would be
rendered hollow.
Sociologists and
political scientists need to engage in deeper studies that would enrich
citizenship in the post-COVID19 world for democracy and human rights everywhere.
[1]
The author is an independent researcher with abiding interest in developing
young scholarship through Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies at
www.ejsss.net . Should any
reader wish to use the content for his/her research, they are free to do so. A
reference to this Blog will be appreciated. APA style reference for this entry
is:
Srinivasan, R. (2020, May 09). COVID19 and Citizenship
[Blog post]. Retrieved from https://ejournalofsocialandstrategicstudies.blogspot.com/2020/05/covid19-and-citizenship.html
[i]
T Hobbes, (1651). Leviathan. London. Chapter XVII, p 1651.
[ii]
Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1913). The Social Contract or Principles of Political
Right. Book I. Chapter VI. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co
[iii]
TH Marshall, (1950). Citizenship and Social Class, and Other Essays. Cambridge
(UK): The University Press.
[v] Indra
Sawhney v Union of India Air 1993 SC 447
[vi] AIR
1978 SC 1675
