Is Liberalism a Defensible Framework for Pandemic Policymaking?

Liberal commitments to upholding civil liberties and relying on representative democratic procedures may seem incompatible with an effective response to an emergency like a pandemic. At the same time, the high stakes of pandemic policy-making and disagreement about the best way to respond arguably highlight the importance of other liberal commitments—for example, commitments to incorporating experts, data, and scientific knowledge, and to deliberatively engaging with divergent views about policy. Is the streamlined decision-making that enables an effective emergency response consistent with upholding these liberal commitments? An examination of that question in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic response suggests that a streamlined policymaking process in which states are given pandemic response power can be consistent with upholding these commitments.