Page 19 - Rockefeller Lockstep Document

China’s government was not the only one that was deemed vital to national interests. In many
took extreme measures to protect its citizens developed countries, enforced cooperation with a
from risk and exposure. During the pandemic, suite of new regulations and agreements slowly
national leaders around the world flexed their but steadily restored both order and, importantly,
authority and imposed airtight rules and economic growth.
restrictions, from the mandatory wearing of face
Across the developing world, however, the
masks to body-temperature checks at the entries
story was different — and much more variable.
to communal spaces like train stations and
Top-down authority took different forms
supermarkets. Even after the pandemic faded,
in different countries, hinging largely on
this more authoritarian control and oversight
the capacity, caliber, and intentions of their
of citizens and their activities stuck and even
leaders. In countries with strong and thoughtful
intensified. In order to protect themselves from
leaders, citizens’ overall economic status
the spread of increasingly global problems — from
and quality of life increased. In India, for
pandemics and transnational terrorism to
example, air quality drastically improved after
environmental crises and rising poverty — leaders
2016, when the government outlawed high-
around the world took a firmer grip on power.
emitting vehicles. In Ghana, the introduction
At first, the notion of a more controlled world of ambitious government programs to improve
gained wide acceptance and approval. Citizens basic infrastructure and ensure the availability
willingly gave up some of their sovereignty — and of clean water for all her people led to a sharp
their privacy — to more paternalistic states decline in water-borne diseases. But more
in exchange for greater safety and stability. authoritarian leadership worked less well — and
Citizens were more tolerant, and even eager, for in some cases tragically — in countries run by
top-down direction and oversight, and national irresponsible elites who used their increased
leaders had more latitude to impose order in the power to pursue their own interests at the Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development
ways they saw fit. In developed countries, this expense of their citizens.
heightened oversight took many forms: biometric
There were other downsides, as the rise of
IDs for all citizens, for example, and tighter
virulent nationalism created new hazards:
regulation of key industries whose stability
spectators at the 2018 World Cup, for example,
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