{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/9a03fe9e-1ff0-4dcc-b3f6-50bd1f016ea4/6331960c-ab3b-4f0c-965f-9907345002ab?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"States of Emergency","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6195701f2eacc3a36070252a/619570bccb3c660012e3d009.jpg?height=200","description":"<p>David talks to Lea Ypi in Berlin and Helen Thompson in London about the various states of emergency that have been declared around the world.&nbsp;We discuss the theory and practice of emergency political powers: When are they justified?&nbsp;How can they be legitimated?&nbsp;When should they end?&nbsp;Plus we explore what the history of Roman dictatorship can teach us about the present crisis and we ask what it means when elections start getting cancelled.</p><p><br></p><p>Talking Points:</p><p><br></p><p>As COVID spreads, it is ushering in states of political emergency—everywhere.</p><ul><li>Can we distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate emergency powers?</li><li>States of emergency are, by definition, outside of the rules.&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Historically, emergencies were supposed to be compatible with some form of rule by the people.&nbsp;</p><ul><li>A legitimate emergency needs to be a public, where the public is seen as non-factional.</li><li>There also needs to be an existential threat to the political community.</li><li>The nature of the regime is also important: the people need to authorize the emergency.</li><li>When it comes to legitimate emergency powers, there are two important criteria: time limits and proportionality.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>The classical Roman dictatorship was designed to meet the above criteria.</p><ul><li>A dictator was not the same as a tyrant.</li><li>Dictatorship facilitated speedy crisis response.</li><li>The dictator was supposed to abdicate power as soon as he could.&nbsp;</li><li>The dictator was an outsider. Today, emergency powers are being assumed by existing governments.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>In this case, the emergency (and existential threat) concerns healthcare systems.</p><ul><li>Once an emergency is called, the expansion of powers can be an emergency of its own.</li><li>In the Roman republic, the dictator could suspend laws; he couldn’t create new ones. Today, particularly on the economic side, the government can act in completely unprecedented ways.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>The real danger for representative democracy in this crisis is if consensus breaks down over how to deal with the emergency.</p><ul><li>Popular legitimation requires that politics are contestable.</li><li>Britain did suspend general elections during the war. But not during the Spanish flu.</li><li>The United States has never suspended national elections.</li><li>We are more invested in elections now because the franchise is much more expansive.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Does the emergency fade in and out as the disease comes and goes?</p><ul><li>This might not be a one off thing.</li><li>The longer the emergency lasts, and the more we do things differently, the harder it becomes to connect our pre-emergency lives to our post-emergency lives.</li><li>Has this crisis blurred the lines between democracies and non-democracies? Or, perhaps, brought the blurring that already existed into sharper focus?</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Mentioned in this Episode:</p><ul><li><a href=\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2020/7/contents/enacted/data.htm\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Britain’s Coronavirus Act</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2020/230-co-operation-or-conflict\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Last week’s episode with Hans Kundnani&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/thing-determines-how-well-countries-respond-coronavirus/609025/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Fukuyama’s article for The Atlantic</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p>Further Learning:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2019/164-death-of-the-republic\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Our episode with Tom Holland on the Roman Republic</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/16/right-new-strongmen-winning-everywhere-brazil-hungary-rightwing\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Lea’s op ed for the Guardian&nbsp;</a></li><li><a...","author_name":"David Runciman and Catherine Carr"}