In this half an hour presentation, research associate Jane Loo from the Centre for AI and Data Governance (CAIDG, SMU) summarises our ongoing work on the influence of the Rule of Law (RoL) on state legitimacy, trust and COVID control measures. The project seeks to empirically demonstrate through the interrogation of selected use cases how the legitimacy of the State (measured in part through citizens’ perception of its legitimacy) may have an influence on citizens’ compliance and reception towards State-imposed COVID control measures. State legitimacy, where it relies on differing degrees of representative democracy for authority is demonstrated to be positively influenced by the RoL. The project also analyses the role and prevalence of trust and distrust and its interplay with principles of the RoL as both tempering the arbitrary exercises of power and as enhancing procedural justice. In essence, the project claims that the enhancement of both State legitimacy and citizens’ trust through RoL compliance have a positive influence on the overall efficacy of COVID control measures lending to more positive health and social outcomes for society.
The full paper will be made available as an open access publication in February 2022. Other resources from our wider project with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) and the Munich Center for Technology in Society (TUM) can be found here.
Last updated on 09 Mar 2022 .