This perspective is from Democracy Digest:

As the coronavirus has spread, many political observers have warned that it is bolstering authoritarianism,* suggesting that a devastating biological virus has translated into a damaging political virus that has markedly eroded the overall state of freedom in the world, say Carnegie Endowment analysts Thomas Carothers and David Wong.

Yet this discouraging near-term political picture becomes less ominous, or at least less clear-cut, if one looks down the road. Many authoritarian and authoritarian-leaning governments have not responded well to the crisis as a result of four key weaknesses, they write in a new analysis, Authoritarian Weaknesses and the Pandemic:

• • First and foremost is a penchant for feeble rather than decisive leadership. Authoritarian leaders revel in projecting an image of strength. Some have, in fact, exhibited valuable decisiveness and clarity when confronted with the coronavirus. .. Yet many other authoritarian or authoritarian-leaning leaders have shown startling weakness in facing the pandemic, falling back on deeply ingrained habits of lying to deny inconvenient facts, spin conspiracy theories, and create alternative realities. ..

Read the full perspective here.