The nation in the time of the pandemic

Despite warnings that a global pandemic was a matter of if rather than when, COVID19 caught governments worldwide unaware. As the study of thirteen national contexts offered in this edited volume show, three main common features emerged in the discourse disseminated by the authorities and the media. Firstly, the nation became the frame of reference to create an idea of common identity and common purpose, to explain the extraordinary anti-virus mandates, and to gain people’s trust. Secondly, with the same purpose, there was a recourse to ‘non-ideological’ values and narratives that could be accepted by all stakeholders. Thirdly, the analyses evidence the perception of the fragility of democracy, caused by too much political consensus, too much political dissent and by the threat of populism. The levels of political consensus or dissent has been the principle for the structuring of this book.