Military Involvement in COVID-19 Responses: Comparing Asia and Latin America

Abstract

Across the world, governments mobilised the military to support COVID-19 relief efforts. Especially in Asia and Latin America, where the military was extensively involved, this raised concerns about the negative implications for democratic quality and human rights. However, only in a few of the two regions' countries did the military hijack or supplant civilian politics during the pandemic. In both regions, militaries performed numerous tasks during the pandemic, staffing the health bureaucracy, producing medical equipment, providing healthcare services, delivering logistics, and enforcing public-security measures. The extensive reliance on the military's organisational resources, however, did not necessarily lead to the political ascendance of the armed forces or the erosion of democratic quality. Military participation in COVID-19 relief efforts undermined democracy and human rights only where the armed forces had been a pivotal actor in the context of institutionally weak democracies or militarised dictatorships already prior to 2020.