The nation, COVID-19 and the dangers for liberal democracy

This chapter offers a summary and discussion of the thirteen chapters that form this edited volume. Despite their differences in scope, approach and methodology, these studies have revealed a series of similarities across all national contexts studied. Firstly, the nation became to be regarded as the appropriate framework to create unity, explain the extraordinary anti-virus mandates and gain the citizens’ trust. Secondly, with the same aim, there was a recourse to ‘non-ideological’ values and narratives. Thirdly, the analyses demonstrate the perception of the fragility of democracy stemming from an excess of political consensus, an excess of political dissent and from populism – the spectre haunting liberal democratic systems.