What Is the New Governmentality of the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Reply to Bigo et al

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has spurred extensive governmental reactions worldwide, such as the closure of borders, the lockdown of entire countries, unprecedented economic stimulus packages, and the invention of digital tracking devices that enable authorities to monitor infection rates and the movements of infected individuals. An important question is to what extent the more detailed surveillance of citizens established by health authorities and governments in many countries will outlive the COVID-19 crisis. What does the pandemic tell us about the ease by which governments have revived the timeworn instruments of state sovereignty, such as territorial closure, restrictions of access to public spaces, and the privileging of national populations as the ultimate object of government? Do we witness a certain convergence between countries considered liberal-democratic and authoritarian regimes in terms of the parallel enhancements of citizen surveillance, rule by appeals to fear, and restrictions of our freedom in terms of governments' use of personal data? In their chapter, 'Obedience in Times of COVID-19 Pandemics: A Renewed Governmentality of Unease?', Didier Bigo, Elspeth Guild and Elif Mendos Ku?konmaz (2021) offer a series of timely reflections on the above questions. The chapter has the format of an essay in which the authors offer their thoughts on three themes related to the COVID-19 pandemic: the exercise of state power; the relation between medical expertise and governance; and the significance of digital surveillance technology. The analyses are tentative and, given the ongoing and open-ended unfolding of the pandemic, more contextualised research will be required to substantiate the chapter's, at times, sweeping claims and conclusions.