A N A LY S I S DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEMOCRACY AND THE STATE OF EMERGENCY Responses to the Corona Crisis in the Western Balkans, Croatia and Slovenia Report One Max Brändle, Tamara Brankovic, Arjan Dyrmishi, Besa Kabashi-Ramaj, Igor Luksic, Nenad Markovikj, Filip Milacic, Tara Tepavac, Nenad Zakosek, Miroslav Zivanovic April 20, 2020 This is the first in a series of reports which sets out to monitor effects of the corona crisis management on institutions, political and civil rights, parties, civil society, as well as external factors. Leaders are invoking executive powers and are seizing a great deal of authority with scant resistance. We are witnessing a curtailing of civil and political rights on a massive scale, which is unprecedented in peacetime. While there was anger in the non EU-member states of the region about the EU’s restrictions on the export of medical equipment, China is using the pandemic to strengthen its ties by providing medical equipment and expertise.