governance have received little attention beyond a simplistic narrative of democratic erosion and authoritarian drift. Is COVID-19 an emergency for democracy, globally? And, what lessons does the pandemic hold for doing democratic governance in an emergency
Democracy in a Global Emergency
Five Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Afsoun Afsahi, Emily Beausoleil, Rikki Dean, Selen A. Ercan, and Jean-Paul Gagnon
COVID and the Era of Emergencies
What Type of Freedom is at Stake?
Danielle Celermajer and Dalia Nassar
). This means that the conditions most likely to trigger the introduction of emergency measures will become more common. Second, it is well-documented that 40 years of neo-liberalism, as a form of politics, economics, and a cultural norm, have eroded
Renata Lizzi
In Italy, the ‘mad cow’ emergency lasted precisely a year. It began
in November 2000 subsequent to the eruption of the crisis in
France1 and the measures announced by European authorities,
when the Italian government adopted a series of urgent health and
trade provisions. It ended in autumn 2001 when health controls
and market measures for the beef sector, as well as the opinions
of experts and scientists, gave credible guarantees on the safety
of meat and thus facilitated the recommencement of consumption
and the productive and commercial cycle of the sector.
Thomas Hartmann
Why are recent attempts to give space to the rivers so unsuccessful? Floodplain management is a complex social process with many stakeholders, who pursue different rationalities before, during, and after floods. The resulting patterns of activities of the stakeholders have led to a technological lock-in. This article uses Cultural Theory to analyze the stakeholders' different framing of floodplain management. The concept of Large Areas for Temporary Emergency Retention (LATER) is then introduced as a way to create space for the rivers. Its implementation can be facilitated if the different rationalities, framing the patterns of activity in the floodplains are taken into account. Therefore, based on interviews with landowners, water managers, land use planners, and policymakers the rationalities are uncovered and different proposals for land policies are presented. The result is a land policy based on an obligatory insurance against natural hazards.
Alberto Clò
In 2006, the energy question—and in particular the natural gas emergency
that will be discussed here—was brought to the attention of
public opinion, of political and economic debate, and of the electoral
contest. First, it needs to be made clear that on both sides, and within
the two coalitions, demagoguery prevailed over pragmatism. Similarly,
the propensity to demonize the proposals of opponents tended
to hold sway over attempts to contribute constructively to the discussion.
Thus, a game of mutual vetoes and false propositions took place,
characterized by erroneous diagnoses aimed solely at avoiding the
electoral costs that the required choices would have imposed. This
had the inevitable result of confusing public opinion, which should
be aware of the issue, and feeding the general “right of veto,” which,
since before the reform of Title V of the Constitution, has allowed
anyone to prevent others from doing anything—with the result that
nothing happens.
“Close to the skin”
Conceptualizing the intimate functioning of the US–Mexico border
Miranda Dahlin
Jusionyte, Ieva. 2018. Threshold: Emergency responders on the US-Mexico border . Oakland: University of California Press. Yeh, Rihan. 2017. Passing: Two publics in a Mexican border city . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. The US
From Schmitt to Foucault
Inquiring the Relationship between Exception and Democracy
Sara Raimondi
Current academic debates and empirical evidence unveil an alarming portrait of the status of contemporary politics. Increasingly, we find ourselves entrapped in a variety of emergency measures that creep into the life of our liberal democracies, be
Narmala Halstead
law, such as structurally embedded violations. The consent for the emergency rights accorded to the state to act for the greater protection and bio-survival of all occurs alongside certain contestations which also, in dramatic instances, include spaces
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Central and Eastern Europe
The Rise of Autocracy and Democratic Resilience
Petra Guasti
strengthen exclusionary rhetoric and weaken institutional safeguards (minority protection). 3. Plebiscitarianism: elected leaders might use emergency powers to weaken the role of the parliaments and undermine both the opposition and civil society
Investing in Early Crisis Relief or Reelection?
Comparing German Party Responses to the Euro Crisis
Alexandra Hennessy
How do political parties respond to a major economic shock? Changing economic circumstances may require officials to enact emergency measures that contradict prior policy pledges, reducing party responsiveness to citizens. 1 If parties face an
