Theory & Event

Abstract:

Emergencies are those risks of threat too high to ignore. Recently, democratic theorists have worried that the emergency use of powers is itself the fundamental emergency of democratic politics. But this paper asks whether other modalities of emergency may not also be useful for democracy. I argue that the recent emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic, while horrific, can also provide the opportunity for developing new democratic habitus. I offer reflections on my own experience of COVID-19 in Denmark in March and April of 2020, placing these reflections in the context of a national response to the pandemic in Denmark, and contrast these with the government response in the United States. In this context, Foucault’s reflections on foundational metaphors for governing—steering the ship to safe harbor and caring for the shepherded flock—suggest how sovereign power can be limited, but also where countercurrents of sovereignty might manifest themselves. I turn to these metaphors as language that traces the dangers and promises that linger in emergencies.