Pandemic, Exception and the Law: Notes on the Shattered Nomos of Europe
In this article I propose a critical evaluation of the current European politico-legal landscape that unfolds under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. My aim is to offer an analysis of the symbolic status of legality in this context and to reflect on its historical trajectory, by introducing i...
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2021
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oai:doaj.org-article:c0b8b56d026845888c42a3deac8bdb9c2021-11-29T12:15:06ZPandemic, Exception and the Law: Notes on the Shattered Nomos of Europe0208-60692450-278210.18778/0208-6069.96.07https://doaj.org/article/c0b8b56d026845888c42a3deac8bdb9c2021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/Iuridica/article/view/11299https://doaj.org/toc/0208-6069https://doaj.org/toc/2450-2782In this article I propose a critical evaluation of the current European politico-legal landscape that unfolds under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. My aim is to offer an analysis of the symbolic status of legality in this context and to reflect on its historical trajectory, by introducing it in a longer historical timescale than usually proposed as well as by insisting on the specific nexus between emergency legislation and authoritarian ideologies within Europe. In doing so I propose a new genealogy of the state of exception apt to articulate the relationship between the force of law, legal normativity, and ideology in modern capitalism. The thesis that I defend here is a simple one: the ongoing pandemic has operated a historical acceleration that the law, understood here as medium that articulates power symbolically in a public and ostensible manner, is not able to catch up with. To substantiate this thesis, I venture first to take stock of the existing theories, analyses and narratives on the relation between the pandemic and the politico-legal landscape of Europe. In doing so I shall focus first on traditional constitutional law accounts and on Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s criticism of the legal responses to the pandemic. Following this analysis, I move towards a situation of the pandemic within the sphere of the multiple crises befalling Europe that have become visible since 2015. At this stage I draw attention to the manifold layers of emergency legality and states of exception that have been sapping the liberal democratic nomos putatively defended within Europe. In a third move, I embark on a synoptical clarification of the relationship between law, ideology and the history of class struggle. In a fourth and last intervention I intend to assess the current nexus between the pandemic, exception and the law as a specific form of dissolution of the liberal nomos.Cosmin CercelLodz University Pressarticlecovid-19pandemicstate of exceptionnomosliberalismLawKLaw in general. Comparative and uniform law. JurisprudenceK1-7720PLActa Universitatis Lodziensis Folia Iuridica, Vol 96, Pp 83-97 (2021) |
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covid-19 pandemic state of exception nomos liberalism Law K Law in general. Comparative and uniform law. Jurisprudence K1-7720 |
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covid-19 pandemic state of exception nomos liberalism Law K Law in general. Comparative and uniform law. Jurisprudence K1-7720 Cosmin Cercel Pandemic, Exception and the Law: Notes on the Shattered Nomos of Europe |
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In this article I propose a critical evaluation of the current European politico-legal landscape that unfolds under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. My aim is to offer an analysis of the symbolic status of legality in this context and to reflect on its historical trajectory, by introducing it in a longer historical timescale than usually proposed as well as by insisting on the specific nexus between emergency legislation and authoritarian ideologies within Europe. In doing so I propose a new genealogy of the state of exception apt to articulate the relationship between the force of law, legal normativity, and ideology in modern capitalism. The thesis that I defend here is a simple one: the ongoing pandemic has operated a historical acceleration that the law, understood here as medium that articulates power symbolically in a public and ostensible manner, is not able to catch up with. To substantiate this thesis, I venture first to take stock of the existing theories, analyses and narratives on the relation between the pandemic and the politico-legal landscape of Europe. In doing so I shall focus first on traditional constitutional law accounts and on Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s criticism of the legal responses to the pandemic. Following this analysis, I move towards a situation of the pandemic within the sphere of the multiple crises befalling Europe that have become visible since 2015. At this stage I draw attention to the manifold layers of emergency legality and states of exception that have been sapping the liberal democratic nomos putatively defended within Europe. In a third move, I embark on a synoptical clarification of the relationship between law, ideology and the history of class struggle. In a fourth and last intervention I intend to assess the current nexus between the pandemic, exception and the law as a specific form of dissolution of the liberal nomos. |
format |
article |
author |
Cosmin Cercel |
author_facet |
Cosmin Cercel |
author_sort |
Cosmin Cercel |
title |
Pandemic, Exception and the Law: Notes on the Shattered Nomos of Europe |
title_short |
Pandemic, Exception and the Law: Notes on the Shattered Nomos of Europe |
title_full |
Pandemic, Exception and the Law: Notes on the Shattered Nomos of Europe |
title_fullStr |
Pandemic, Exception and the Law: Notes on the Shattered Nomos of Europe |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pandemic, Exception and the Law: Notes on the Shattered Nomos of Europe |
title_sort |
pandemic, exception and the law: notes on the shattered nomos of europe |
publisher |
Lodz University Press |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doaj.org/article/c0b8b56d026845888c42a3deac8bdb9c |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT cosmincercel pandemicexceptionandthelawnotesontheshatterednomosofeurope |
_version_ |
1718407425660289024 |