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ABSTRACT
States have adopted a range of policies to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Some, mainly democracies like New Zealand and South Korea, took quick health measures without curbing citizen rights. Others, especially those led by populists like Bolsonaro and Erdogan, denied the seriousness of the health crisis even as they curbed political and civil rights. El Salvador is virtually unique in its COVID-19 response, combining a strong rhetorical commitment to health measures with clear efforts to undermine democratic controls and rights. President Nayib Bukele adopted an early travel ban and publicly vilified those who broke curfew by sending them and all who tested positive to quarantine centers for 30 days. He derided and defied Constitutional Chamber decisions against such practices, ordered militarized actions, and crowded gang-affiliated prisoners together in humiliating ways that risked exposure to COVID-19. We examine how Bukele’s policies conform to, and seemingly exemplify, Michel Foucault’s theoretical concepts of biopolitics and disciplinary power. However, the Salvadoran case also challenges key features of Foucault’s theory, suggesting the need to modify his Western assumptions about highly institutionalized states. Our analysis suggests that strong leaders can undercut citizen rights and agency, visible at the intersection of biopolitical social theory and democratic backsliding.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Erin Collins, David Holiday, Jonathan Fox, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and feedback on earlier versions of this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Foucault, Society Must Be Defended.
2 Edgell et al., “Pandemic Backsliding.”
3 El Salvador is only one of 15 countries to reach the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker’s highest level of government restriction for COVID-19 related policies. See, Hale et al., “A Global Panel Database of Pandemic Policies.”
4 Gavarrete and Oliva, “El monopolio de datos que deja al personal de salud con una estrategia a ciegas.”
5 Repucci and Slipowitz, “Democracy under Lockdown: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Struggle for Freedom.”
6 Agamben, “L’invenzione di un’epidemia.”
7 Mbembe, “Necropolitics,” 23–25.
8 Ding, “Performative Governance.”
9 Campbell and Sitze, Biopolitics; Lemke, Biopolitics.
10 see Esposito, Bíos; Collier, “Topologies of Power.”
11 Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 253.
12 Foucault, “Governmentality,” 102.
13 Lemke, “Foucault, Politics and Failure,” 41.
14 Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 246.
15 Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 198.
16 Foucault, Discipline and Punish; Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 250.
17 Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 241.
18 Ibid., 246.
19 Hannah, “Thinking Corona Measures with Foucault.”
20 Foucault, “Governmentality,” 102.
21 Agamben, “L’invenzione di un’epidemia.”
22 Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life.
23 Sotiris, “Against Agamben.”
24 see Pearce, “After the Lockdown.”
25 Pearce.
26 Lorenzini, “Biopolitics in the Time of Coronavirus.”
27 Martínez, “Nayib Bukele También Pactó Con Pandillas.”
28 Valencia, Arauz, and Martínez, “Nayib Bukele.”
29 Montoya, “The Election of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador Shows How Wartime Polarities Have Dissolved into Pragmatism”; see also García, “Profile.”
30 Children, pregnant women and people over sixty years of age would be tested and allowed to leave quarantine before the 30 days if testing negative.
31 Dictamen 29 concerning the State of Emergency passed the Salvadoran Assembly on March 14, 2020 with 84 votes in favor.
32 Dictamen 30 concerning the Regime of Exception passed the Salvadoran Assembly on March 14, 2020 with 58 votes in favor and 25 votes in opposition.
33 La Prensa Gráfica, “Las noticias más importantes del viernes 13 de marzo.”
34 Voz de América, “El Salvador declara el estado de emergencia para enfrentar COVID-19.”
35 Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 197.
36 Bukele, May 3, 2020.
37 Bukele, May 8, 2020.
38 González Díaz, “Las impactantes imágenes con las que El Salvador anunció que juntó a presos de diferentes pandillas en las celdas para combatir la violencia (y qué riesgos conlleva).”
39 Mbembe, “Necropolitics,” 13.
40 Mbembe, 25.
41 Mbembe, 24.
42 López Bernal, “Las claves de la historia de El Salvador.”
43 see Wolf, Mano Dura, 49–73.
44 “Informe de Derechos Humanos 2019,” 13.
45 Ching, Authoritarian El Salvador.
46 Mbembe, “Necropolitics,” 27.
47 Evelia, “Desorden en Salud puede ocasionar rebrote de otras enfermedades”; see also Argueta, “El tratamiento socio-estatal de la crisis sanitaria con perspectiva generacional.”
48 Bukele, “¿Dictadura de Qué?”
49 Wade, “Bukele’s Politicization of the Military Revives Old Fears in El Salvador.”
50 Bukele, “‘El Salvador Will Fight Corruption, Violence for the Good of Its Citizens.’”
51 Arrieta, “Nayib Bukele es el presidente que mejor manejó la emergencia del Covid-19, Carlos Alvarado en séptimo lugar.”
52 Diamond, “Democracy Versus the Pandemic.”
53 Rauda, “Salud Confirma Más de 600 Entierros Con Protocolo Covid-19”; Gavarrete and Oliva, “El monopolio de datos que deja al personal de salud con una estrategia a ciegas”; Valeria and Gavarrete, “Dijeron que mi esposo había muerto, pero no de qué”; Machuca, “¿A quiénes les hacen las 2,500 pruebas covid diarias?”; Calderon, “La realidad es más catastrófica que las cifras oficiales de covid-19 en El Salvador, dice presidente del Colegio Médico.”
54 Based on one composite health metric, El Salvador is roughly average in their response. The excessive measures did not yield exceptional health-based results. See Leng and Lemaheiu, “Covid Performance Index.”
55 Remarks of Noah Bullock, director of Cristosal, to authors, July 2020.
56 Dada, “Life and Death in a Government Quarantine Facility in El Salvador.”
57 This criterion becomes problematic if the judicial branch has been bought, corrupted, politically appointed or beholden to the executive. This point is of particular relevance after the dismissal of all five Constitutional Chamber judges on May, 1, 2021.
58 Human Rights Watch, “El Salvador.”
59 Bukele, April 15, 2020.
60 “Inconstitucionalidad.”
61 Bukele, June 9, 2020.
62 Pearce, “After the Lockdown.”
63 Lorenzini, “Biopolitics in the Time of Coronavirus.”
64 Dada, “The White Flag of Hunger.”
65 Lagarde, Sánchez Masferrer, and Riumallo Herl, “El Salvador’s COVID-19 Response Is Storing up Health and Economic Problems for the Worse-Off”
66 Mbembe, “Necropolitics.”
67 Authors developed this table consulting Hale et. al, Edgell et. al, and Repucci and Slipowitz.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jeffrey T. Hallock
Jeffrey T. Hallock is a doctoral candidate studying International Relations at American University.
Charles T. Call
Charles T. Call is an associate professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University, focusing on post-war peacebuilding, statebuilding, democratization, human rights and police and justice reform.