TY - JOUR
T1 - Obedience in times of covid-19 pandemics
T2 - A renewed governmentality of unease?
AU - Bigo, Didier
AU - Monnet, Jean
AU - Kuskonmaz, Elif Mendos
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Bristol University Press 2021.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - This article transects and articulates different disciplines and lines of thought in order to understand the redefinitions of the boundaries of political power in times of COVID-19, and the practices which may outlive the potential normalisation of the crisis when an efficient vaccine is discovered. We claim that the COVID-19 pandemic is an original form of governmentality by unease articulating three dimensions. First, the basic reaction of modern states when faced with uncertainty is to apply national-territorial logics of controls. Second, bureaucracies consider the virus as a danger to security and organise public health emergencies according to the rules of the game of national security, creating tensions between internal security, public health and the economy because policymakers may be unsure about the priorities and may prioritise border controls. Third, resistance against the chosen national policies show that people are not led by a politics of fear and/or protection, but rather their own concerns about themselves with peer-to-peer surveillance as a key element of their compliance. Contact tracing technologies and strategies of border controls are key elements to analyse. We do so in different contexts: the UK, the EU and Turkey.
AB - This article transects and articulates different disciplines and lines of thought in order to understand the redefinitions of the boundaries of political power in times of COVID-19, and the practices which may outlive the potential normalisation of the crisis when an efficient vaccine is discovered. We claim that the COVID-19 pandemic is an original form of governmentality by unease articulating three dimensions. First, the basic reaction of modern states when faced with uncertainty is to apply national-territorial logics of controls. Second, bureaucracies consider the virus as a danger to security and organise public health emergencies according to the rules of the game of national security, creating tensions between internal security, public health and the economy because policymakers may be unsure about the priorities and may prioritise border controls. Third, resistance against the chosen national policies show that people are not led by a politics of fear and/or protection, but rather their own concerns about themselves with peer-to-peer surveillance as a key element of their compliance. Contact tracing technologies and strategies of border controls are key elements to analyse. We do so in different contexts: the UK, the EU and Turkey.
KW - Border closures
KW - Border control strategies
KW - COVID-19 pandemic
KW - Digital contact tracing
KW - Governmentality by unease
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110402020&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1332/204378921X16158113910675
DO - 10.1332/204378921X16158113910675
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85110402020
SN - 2326-9995
VL - 11
SP - 471
EP - 489
JO - Global Discourse
JF - Global Discourse
IS - 3
ER -
